---
title: Which phrase about death would you use in a polite speech, not a joke? — Soft words for hard things: death and… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which phrase about death would you use in a polite speech, not a joke? Test 12 · ★ 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 of each option; Mova's cho
---

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# Test 12 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: death and dying, illness and t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which phrase about death would you use in a polite speech, not a joke?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** phrase · **What happens:** use · **To what, where:** polite speech

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This is test 12 · ★ 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/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t12:1
# text = Which phrase about death would you use in a polite speech, not a joke?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	phrase	phrase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	about	about	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	polite	polite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	speech	speech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | would | which phrase about death |  |  | a polite speech and a joke |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Made the ultimate sacrifice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t12:o1:1
# text = Made the ultimate sacrifice
1	Made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	ultimate	ultimate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	sacrifice	sacrifice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past |  | the ultimate sacrifice |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset sacrifice=Product |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Assumed room temperature

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t12:o2:1
# text = Assumed room temperature
1	Assumed	assume	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
2	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	temperature	temperature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **assume** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Gone to the big sleep

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t12:o3:1
# text = Gone to the big sleep
1	Gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | participle |  |  |  | the big sleep |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to sleep=Initial\_Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pushing up the daisies

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t12:o4:1
# text = Pushing up the daisies
1	Pushing	push	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	up	up	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	daisies	daisy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **push up** | gerund |  | the daisies |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent daisy=Theme |

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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: death and…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/3-death-and-feeling-poorly/t11/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: death and…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/3-death-and-feeling-poorly/e1/)
- ↑ 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/)