---
title: Grandma says "When I was young, we didn't say cancer, we said the bi… — Soft words for hard things: death and… · tree and pragmatics
description: Grandma says "When I was young, we didn't say cancer, we said the big C." Why did people do that? Test 11 · ★ of lesson 3 «Soft words for hard things: death and dying, illness and the body» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and
---

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# Test 11 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: death and dying, illness and t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Grandma says "When I was young, we didn't say cancer, we said the big C." Why did people do that?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Grandma, we, people · **What happens:** say, be, not say, do · **To what, where:** cancer, big C., that · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 3 «Soft words for hard things: death and dying, illness and the body» 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/3-death-and-feeling-poorly/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t11:1
# text = Grandma says "When I was young, we didn't say cancer, we said the big C." Why did people do that?
1	Grandma	grandma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
13	cancer	cancer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	ccomp	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	C.	c.	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	_
21	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
22	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
24	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
25	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Grandma |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | past | Grandma |  |  |  |  | young *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past · do-support | we | cancer |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | we | the big C. |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent c.=Topic |
| 5 | **do** | past · do-support | people | that |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 -->
They were afraid to say the frightening word

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t11:o1:1
# text = They were afraid to say the frightening word
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	frightening	frightening	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | They |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | They *not said here* | the frightening word |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was shorter to write

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t11:o2:1
# text = It was shorter to write
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|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	shorter	short	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	write	write	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | It |  |  |  |  | short *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **write** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was a kind of letter game

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t11:o3:1
# text = It was a kind of letter game
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	game	game	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | It | a kind |  |  |  | of letter game | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was a medical code

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t11:o4:1
# text = It was a medical code
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	medical	medical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	code	code	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | It | a medical code |  |  |  |  | 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 -->

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- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: death and…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/3-death-and-feeling-poorly/t10/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: death and…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/3-death-and-feeling-poorly/t12/)
- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: death and dying, illness and the body](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/3-death-and-feeling-poorly/)