---
title: Dad: "This sofa's on its last legs, we'll need a new one." What is t… — Soft words for hard things: death and… · tree and pragmatics
description: Dad: "This sofa's on its last legs, we'll need a new one." What is true about the sofa? Test 4 · ★ 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 op
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: death and dying, illness and t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dad: "This sofa's on its last legs, we'll need a new one." What is true about the sofa?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Dad · **What happens:** need, be · **To what, where:** new one

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Dad: "This sofa's on its last legs, we'll need a new one."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t4:1
# text = Dad: "This sofa's on its last legs, we'll need a new one."
1	Dad	dad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	det	_	_
5	sofa	sofa	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
9	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
12	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	'll	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	need	need	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** *in a quote* | future | Dad and this sofa's last legs | a new one |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot one=Theme |

<!-- .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:* What is true about the sofa?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t4:2
# text = What is true about the sofa?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	about	about	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sofa	sofa	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was bought last

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t4:o1:1
# text = It was bought last
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	bought	buy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | past · passive |  | It |  |  |  | last *property* | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It has only one leg left

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t4:o2:1
# text = It has only one leg left
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | It | one leg |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Patient |
| 2 | **leave** | participle |  | one leg *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is old and nearly worn out

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t4:o3:1
# text = It is old and nearly worn out
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
5	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	worn	wear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
7	out	out	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **wear out** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | nearly *property* | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is going to be moved

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:3-death-and-feeling-poorly:t4:o4:1
# text = It is going to be moved
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	moved	move	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | present · progressive | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **move** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V» |

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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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/3-death-and-feeling-poorly/t3/)
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