---
title: News: "The ministry confirms our losses in the eastern sector were l… — Soft words for hard things: war, the m… · tree and pragmatics
description: News: "The ministry confirms our losses in the eastern sector were light." What really happened? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 26 «Soft words for hard things: war, the military and violence» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each
---

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# Test 1 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: war, the military and violence

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
News: "The ministry confirms our losses in the eastern sector were light." What really happened?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** ministry, News · **What happens:** confirm, be, happen · **To what, where:** losses, eastern sector

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 26 «Soft words for hard things: war, the military and violence» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/euphemisms/26-war-and-the-military/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* News: "The ministry confirms our losses in the eastern sector were light."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t1:1
# text = News: "The ministry confirms our losses in the eastern sector were light."
1	News	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	ministry	ministry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	confirms	confirm	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
7	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	losses	loss	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	eastern	eastern	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	sector	sector	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	light	light	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **confirm** *in a quote* | present | the ministry | our losses |  | the eastern sector |  |  | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot loss=Topic |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | past | News |  |  |  |  | light *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What really happened?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t1:2
# text = What really happened?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	really	really	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They spent little money

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t1:o1:1
# text = They spent little money
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	spent	spend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spend** | past | They | little money |  |  |  |  | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent money=Asset |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Some of their soldiers were killed, but not many

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t1:o2:1
# text = Some of their soldiers were killed, but not many
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kill** | past · passive |  | their soldiers |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They lost a football match in the eastern part of the country

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t1:o3:1
# text = They lost a football match in the eastern part of the country
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lost	lose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	football	football	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	match	match	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	eastern	eastern	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | past | They | a football match |  | the eastern part of the country |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent match=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They lost a few maps and tools

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t1:o4:1
# text = They lost a few maps and tools
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lost	lose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	maps	map	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	tools	tool	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | past | They | a few maps and tools |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent map=Eventuality |

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: politics a…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/25-spin-war-and-violence/e4/)
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