--- title: Report on a minister: "His answers were less than candid." What does… — Soft words for hard things: lying and… · tree and pragmatics description: Report on a minister: "His answers were less than candid." What does the report say? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 29 «Soft words for hard things: lying and honesty and drinking and drugs» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each o --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/t8/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/) / [Soft words for hard things: lying and…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/) / t8 # Test 8 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: lying and honesty and drinking… Report on a minister: "His answers were less than candid." What does the report say? **Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Report, His · **What happens:** be, answer, say · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 29 «Soft words for hard things: lying and honesty and drinking and drugs» 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/29-lying-and-drinking/#t8). ## The question {#question} *Sentence 1:* Report on a minister: "His answers were less than candid." ```conllu # sent_id = question:euphemisms:29-lying-and-drinking:t8:1 # text = Report on a minister: "His answers were less than candid." 1 Report report NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nsubj _ _ 2 on on ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 minister minister NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 5 : : PUNCT : _ 10 punct _ _ 6 " " PUNCT `` _ 10 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 His his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 8 nmod:poss _ _ 8 answers answer NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 nsubj _ _ 9 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 cop _ _ 10 less less ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 0 root _ _ 11 than than ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 12 candid candid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 . . PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 14 " " PUNCT '' _ 10 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** *in a quote* | past | Report on a minister | | | | | than candid; less *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **answer** *in a quote* | | His *= he* | | | | | | nom answer «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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. *Sentence 2:* What does the report say? ```conllu # sent_id = question:euphemisms:29-lying-and-drinking:t8:2 # text = What does the report say? 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 report report NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 5 say say VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 6 ? ? PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · do-support | the report | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic | ## The options {#options} ### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1} He was dishonest in his answers ```conllu # sent_id = question:euphemisms:29-lying-and-drinking:t8:o1:1 # text = He was dishonest in his answers 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 cop _ _ 3 dishonest dishonest ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 4 in in ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 6 nmod:poss _ _ 6 answers answer NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 obl _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | He | | | his answers | | dishonest *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **answer** | | his *= he* | | | | | | nom answer «communication transitive»: poss=agent | ### Option 2 {#o2} His answers were too short ```conllu # sent_id = question:euphemisms:29-lying-and-drinking:t8:o2:1 # text = His answers were too short 1 His his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 2 nmod:poss _ _ 2 answers answer NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 nsubj _ _ 3 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 4 too too ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 5 short short ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | His answers | | | | | short *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **answer** | | His *= he* | | | | | | nom answer «communication transitive»: poss=agent | ### Option 3 {#o3} He was very honest ```conllu # sent_id = question:euphemisms:29-lying-and-drinking:t8:o3:1 # text = He was very honest 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 very very ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 4 honest honest ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | He | | | | | honest *property* | tree rules | ### Option 4 {#o4} He spoke too sweetly ```conllu # sent_id = question:euphemisms:29-lying-and-drinking:t8:o4:1 # text = He spoke too sweetly 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 spoke speak VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 too too ADV RB _ 2 advmod _ _ 4 sweetly sweetly ADV RB _ 2 advmod _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | He | | | | | sweetly *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | **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. - ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: lying and…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/t7/) - next →: [Soft words for hard things: lying and…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/t9/) - ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: lying and honesty and drinking and drugs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/)