---
title: Two friends: "Do you go to church?" — "Nah, I'm a lapsed Methodist."… — Soft words for hard things: religion a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Two friends: "Do you go to church?" — "Nah, I'm a lapsed Methodist." What does the second friend mean? Test 11 of lesson 32 «Soft words for hard things: religion and fate and failure and mistakes» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the quest
---

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# Test 11 · Soft words for hard things: religion and fate and failure…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two friends: "Do you go to church?" — "Nah, I'm a lapsed Methodist." What does the second friend mean?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, I, second friend · **What happens:** go, lapse, be, mean · **To what, where:** church, lapsed Methodist

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 of lesson 32 «Soft words for hard things: religion and fate and failure and mistakes» 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/32-religion-fate-failure/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Two friends: "Do you go to church?" — "Nah, I'm a lapsed Methodist."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:32-religion-fate-failure:t11:1
# text = Two friends: "Do you go to church?" — "Nah, I'm a lapsed Methodist."
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
12	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
13	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	Nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	20	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	'm	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	lapsed	lapse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	amod	_	_
20	Methodist	Methodist	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** *in a quote* | present · do-support | you |  |  | church |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to church=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **lapse** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | I | a lapsed Methodist |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 does the second friend mean?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:32-religion-fate-failure:t11:2
# text = What does the second friend mean?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	5	amod	_	_
5	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present · do-support | the second friend |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They no longer practise their religion

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:32-religion-fate-failure:t11:o1:1
# text = They no longer practise their religion
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	no	no	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
4	practise	practise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	religion	religion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **practise** | infinitive | They | their religion |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They lead the church choir every single Sunday

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:32-religion-fate-failure:t11:o2:1
# text = They lead the church choir every single Sunday
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lead	lead	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	choir	choir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
7	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	Sunday	Sunday	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lead** | present | They | the church choir |  |  | sunday |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent choir=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are a new Methodist

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:32-religion-fate-failure:t11:o3:1
# text = They are a new Methodist
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	Methodist	Methodist	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | They | a new Methodist |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are late for church

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:32-religion-fate-failure:t11:o4:1
# text = They are late for church
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | They |  |  |  |  | for church; late *property* | tree rules |

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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: religion a…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/32-religion-fate-failure/t10/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: religion a…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/32-religion-fate-failure/t12/)
- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: religion and fate and failure and mistakes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/32-religion-fate-failure/)