---
title: A minister: "The deterrent keeps Britain safe." What is he talking a… — Soft words for hard things: war, the m… · tree and pragmatics
description: A minister: "The deterrent keeps Britain safe." What is he talking about? Test 12 · ★ 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 option; Mova's choice
---

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# Test 12 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: war, the military and violence

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A minister: "The deterrent keeps Britain safe." What is he talking about?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** minister · **What happens:** keep, talk about · **To what, where:** Britain

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 12 · ★ 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/#t12).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A minister: "The deterrent keeps Britain safe."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t12:1
# text = A minister: "The deterrent keeps Britain safe."
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	minister	minister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	deterrent	deterrent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	Britain	Britain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
9	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** *in a quote* | present | a minister | Britain |  |  |  | safe *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent britain=Theme |

<!-- .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 is he talking about?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t12:2
# text = What is he talking about?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	obl	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk about** | present · progressive | minister |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Road safety signs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t12:o1:1
# text = Road safety signs
1	Road	Road	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	safety	safety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	signs	sign	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Britain's nuclear weapons

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t12:o2:1
# text = Britain's nuclear weapons
1	Britain	Britain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	nuclear	nuclear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	weapons	weapon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A team of police dogs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t12:o3:1
# text = A team of police dogs
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	team	team	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	police	police	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A big fence on the coast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t12:o4:1
# text = A big fence on the coast
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	fence	fence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	coast	coast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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**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.

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- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: war, the m…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/26-war-and-the-military/t11/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: war, the m…, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/26-war-and-the-military/t13/)
- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: war, the military and violence](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/26-war-and-the-military/)