---
title: Ascertain the meaning of "stretching the truth". — Soft words for hard things: crime, pri… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the meaning of "stretching the truth". Exam question 4 of lesson 28 «Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police and lying and honesty» 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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# Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the meaning of "stretching the truth".

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, meaning · **What happens:** ascertain, stretch · **To what, where:** meaning, truth

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 28 «Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police and lying and honesty» 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/28-stealing-and-lying/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:28-stealing-and-lying:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the meaning of "stretching the truth".
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	stretching	stretch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the meaning |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic |
| 2 | **stretch** *in a quote* | gerund | the meaning *not said here* | the truth |  |  |  |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent truth=Patient |

<!-- .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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Exaggerating to the point of lying

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:28-stealing-and-lying:e4:o1:1
# text = Exaggerating to the point of lying
1	Exaggerating	exaggerate	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	lying	lying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **exaggerate** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | to the point of lying | tree rules |
| 2 | **point** |  |  | lying |  |  |  |  | nom point «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Narrating a lengthy true account

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:28-stealing-and-lying:e4:o2:1
# text = Narrating a lengthy true account
1	Narrating	narrate	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	lengthy	lengthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **narrate** *speech: other* | gerund |  | a lengthy true account |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent account=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Performing exercises whilst conversing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:28-stealing-and-lying:e4:o3:1
# text = Performing exercises whilst conversing
1	Performing	perform	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	exercises	exercise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
3	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
4	conversing	converse	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **perform** | gerund |  | exercises |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent exercise=Theme |
| 2 | **converse** *speech: other* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn chit\_chat-37.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Speaking in a deliberately slow manner

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:28-stealing-and-lying:e4:o4:1
# text = Speaking in a deliberately slow manner
1	Speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	deliberately	deliberately	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | gerund |  |  |  | a slow manner |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: 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.

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- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: crime, pri…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/28-stealing-and-lying/e3/)
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