---
title: "My cousin did time, back in the 90s — no wait, early 2000s." What d… — Soft words for hard things: crime, pri… · tree and pragmatics
description: "My cousin did time, back in the 90s — no wait, early 2000s." What did the cousin do? Test 11 · ★ 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 question and of each option; Mov
---

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# Test 11 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"My cousin did time, back in the 90s — no wait, early 2000s." What did the cousin do?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cousin · **What happens:** do · **To what, where:** 90s

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 27 «Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police» 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/27-crime-prison-and-police/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* "My cousin did time, back in the 90s — no wait, early 2000s."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:t11:1
# text = "My cousin did time, back in the 90s — no wait, early 2000s."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	cousin	cousin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	back	back	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	90s	90s	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	4	obl	_	_
11	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
12	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	13	det	_	_
13	wait	wait	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	2000s	2000	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** *in a quote* | past | My cousin |  |  | the 90s and no wait and early 2000s | time |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=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 did the cousin do?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:t11:2
# text = What did the cousin do?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	cousin	cousin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past · do-support | the cousin |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Worked as a clockmaker in the 90s

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:t11:o1:1
# text = Worked as a clockmaker in the 90s
1	Worked	work	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	clockmaker	clockmaker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	90s	90s	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **work** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | as a clockmaker; in the 90s | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in 90s=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Studied history in the early 2000s

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:t11:o2:1
# text = Studied history in the early 2000s
1	Studied	study	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	amod	_	_
2	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	2000s	2000	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **study** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Served a prison sentence in the 90s

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:t11:o3:1
# text = Served a prison sentence in the 90s
1	Served	serve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	prison	prison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	90s	90s	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **serve** | past |  | a prison sentence |  | the 90s |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent sentence=Value in 90s=Location |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Served a prison sentence in the early 2000s

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:t11:o4:1
# text = Served a prison sentence in the early 2000s
1	Served	serve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	prison	prison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	2000s	2000	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **serve** | past |  | a prison sentence |  | the early 2000s |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent sentence=Value in 2000=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.

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