---
title: Gossip: "Watch your purse round Dave, he's got sticky fingers." What… — Soft words for hard things: crime, pri… · tree and pragmatics
description: Gossip: "Watch your purse round Dave, he's got sticky fingers." What is the warning? Test 4 · ★ 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; Mova'
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Gossip: "Watch your purse round Dave, he's got sticky fingers." What is the warning?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Gossip, warning · **What happens:** watch, get, be · **To what, where:** purse, sticky fingers

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Gossip: "Watch your purse round Dave, he's got sticky fingers."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:t4:1
# text = Gossip: "Watch your purse round Dave, he's got sticky fingers."
1	Gossip	gossip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	Watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	purse	purse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	round	round	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Dave	Dave	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
13	sticky	sticky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	fingers	finger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **watch** *in a quote* | infinitive | Gossip | your purse |  |  |  | round Dave | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent purse=Theme |
| 2 | **get** *in a quote* | present · passive | Gossip | sticky fingers |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer finger=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 the warning?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:t4:2
# text = What is the warning?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	warning	warning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the warning |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dave steals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:t4:o1:1
# text = Dave steals
1	Dave	Dave	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	steals	steal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dave is good at catching things

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:t4:o2:1
# text = Dave is good at catching things
1	Dave	Dave	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	catching	catch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Dave |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **catch** | gerund | Dave *not said here* | things |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dave is clumsy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:t4:o3:1
# text = Dave is clumsy
1	Dave	Dave	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	clumsy	clumsy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Dave |  |  |  |  | clumsy *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dave has been eating jam

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:27-crime-prison-and-police:t4:o4:1
# text = Dave has been eating jam
1	Dave	Dave	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	aux	_	_
4	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	jam	jam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present · perfect · progressive | Dave | jam |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent jam=Patient |

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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: crime, pri…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/t3/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: crime, pri…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/t5/)
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