---
title: "My uncle caught a fish THIS big, he says. Classic tall tale." What… — Soft words for hard things: crime, pri… · tree and pragmatics
description: "My uncle caught a fish THIS big, he says. Classic tall tale." What does the speaker think? Test 10 · ★ 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 ques
---

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# Test 10 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"My uncle caught a fish THIS big, he says. Classic tall tale." What does the speaker think?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** uncle, speaker · **What happens:** catch, say, think · **To what, where:** fish · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★ 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. 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/#t10).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* "My uncle caught a fish THIS big, he says.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:28-stealing-and-lying:t10:1
# text = "My uncle caught a fish THIS big, he says.
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	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	THIS	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	nsubj	_	_
8	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** *in a quote* | past | My uncle | a fish |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | uncle |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

<!-- .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:* Classic tall tale."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:28-stealing-and-lying:t10:2
# text = Classic tall tale."
1	Classic	classic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
2	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* What does the speaker think?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:28-stealing-and-lying:t10:3
# text = What does the speaker think?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	speaker	speaker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	think	think	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 | **think** *speech: other* | present · do-support | the speaker |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot what=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The uncle tells true stories

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:28-stealing-and-lying:t10:o1:1
# text = The uncle tells true stories
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	tells	tell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | the uncle | true stories |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent story=Recipient |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The uncle's story is invented

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:28-stealing-and-lying:t10:o2:1
# text = The uncle's story is invented
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	invented	invent	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 | **invent** | present · passive |  | the uncle's story |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The uncle caught a real big fish

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:28-stealing-and-lying:t10:o3:1
# text = The uncle caught a real big fish
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | past | the uncle | a real big fish |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The uncle is very tall

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:28-stealing-and-lying:t10:o4:1
# text = The uncle is very tall
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: crime, pri…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/28-stealing-and-lying/t9/)
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