---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Soft words for hard things: crime, pri… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the phrase "detained at His Majesty's pleasure"? Exam question 1 of lesson 27 «Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the q
---

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# Exam question 1 · Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the phrase "detained at His Majesty's pleasure"?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Majesty · **What happens:** follow, characteris, detain, please · **To what, where:** phrase, pleasure

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 27 «Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/27-crime-prison-and-police/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the phrase "detained at His Majesty's pleasure"?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	phrase	phrase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	detained	detain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	Majesty	Majesty	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	's	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	pleasure	pleasure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the phrase |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **detain** *in a quote* | participle |  | the phrase *not said here* |  | His Majesty's pleasure |  |  | vn confine-92 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **please** *in a quote* |  | His Majesty |  |  |  |  |  | nom pleasure «feeling 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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Retained in the employment of the Crown

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:e1:o1:1
# text = Retained in the employment of the Crown
1	Retained	retain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	employment	employment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Crown	Crown	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **retain** | participle |  |  |  | the employment of the Crown |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **employ** |  |  | the Crown |  |  |  |  | nom employment «state transitive»: of=patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Held in prison for a period not fixed in advance

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:e1:o2:1
# text = Held in prison for a period not fixed in advance
1	Held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	prison	prison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	period	period	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	fixed	fix	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	advance	advance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | participle |  |  |  | prison |  | for a period | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in prison=Location |
| 2 | **not** **fix** | participle |  | a period *not said here* |  | advance |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Received as a guest at a royal residence

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:e1:o3:1
# text = Received as a guest at a royal residence
1	Received	receive	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
2	as	as	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	guest	guest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	royal	royal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	residence	residence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **receive** | participle |  |  |  | a royal residence |  | as a guest | vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent at residence=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Kept late at school by royal command

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:e1:o4:1
# text = Kept late at school by royal command
1	Kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
2	late	late	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	1	advmod	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	royal	royal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	command	command	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | participle |  |  |  | school |  | by royal command; late *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent at school=Location |

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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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- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: crime, pri…, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/t13/)
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