---
title: "We'll degrade their air defences," says the spokesman. What will re… — Soft words for hard things: war, the m… · tree and pragmatics
description: "We'll degrade their air defences," says the spokesman. What will really happen? Test 13 · ★ 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
---

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# Test 13 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: war, the military and violence

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"We'll degrade their air defences," says the spokesman. What will really happen?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** We, spokesman, their · **What happens:** degrade, say, defend, happen · **To what, where:** air defences · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 13 · ★ 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/#t13).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* "We'll degrade their air defences," says the spokesman.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t13:1
# text = "We'll degrade their air defences," says the spokesman.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	'll	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	degrade	degrade	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	defences	defence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
10	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	spokesman	spokesman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **degrade** *in a quote* | future | We | their air defences |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent defence=Patient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the spokesman |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **defend** *in a quote* |  | their *= they* |  |  |  |  |  | nom defence «process transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 will really happen?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t13:2
# text = What will really happen?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	really	really	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The defences will be given worse marks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t13:o1:1
# text = The defences will be given worse marks
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	defences	defence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	amod	_	_
7	marks	mark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | future · passive |  | the defences |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient mark=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The defences will be bought

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t13:o2:1
# text = The defences will be bought
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	defences	defence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	bought	buy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | future · passive |  | the defences |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The defences will be painted grey

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t13:o3:1
# text = The defences will be painted grey
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	defences	defence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	painted	paint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **paint** | future · passive |  | the defences |  |  |  | grey *property* | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: subject=Destination |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The defences will be bombed and destroyed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:26-war-and-the-military:t13:o4:1
# text = The defences will be bombed and destroyed
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	defences	defence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	bombed	bomb	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	destroyed	destroy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bomb** | future · passive |  | the defences |  |  |  |  | vn attack-60.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **destroy** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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