---
title: "I called my teacher 'Mum' — just a slip of the tongue, but everyone… — Soft words for hard things: failure an… · tree and pragmatics
description: "I called my teacher 'Mum' — just a slip of the tongue, but everyone laughed." What happened? Test 5 of lesson 33 «Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's c
---

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# Test 5 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"I called my teacher 'Mum' — just a slip of the tongue, but everyone laughed." What happened?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** I, everyone, tongue · **What happens:** call, laugh, slip, happen · **To what, where:** teacher · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 of lesson 33 «Soft words for hard things: 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/33-failure-and-mistakes/#t5).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* "I called my teacher 'Mum' — just a slip of the tongue, but everyone laughed."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t5:1
# text = "I called my teacher 'Mum' — just a slip of the tongue, but everyone laughed."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Mum	mum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
9	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
10	just	just	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	slip	slip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	19	nsubj	_	_
19	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** *in a quote* | past | I |  | my teacher |  |  | a slip of the tongue *obl* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent teacher=Recipient |
| 2 | **laugh** *in a quote* | past | everyone |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **slip** *in a quote* |  | the tongue |  |  |  |  |  | nom slip «act intransitive»: of=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What happened?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t5:2
# text = What happened?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She bit her tongue

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t5:o1:1
# text = She bit her tongue
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	bit	bite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bite** | past | She | her tongue |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tongue=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She fell over in class

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t5:o2:1
# text = She fell over in class
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	over	over	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	class	class	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall over** | past | She |  |  | class |  | over *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in class=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was rude on purpose

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t5:o3:1
# text = She was rude on purpose
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|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	rude	rude	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | She |  |  | purpose |  | rude *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She said the wrong word by mistake

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:33-failure-and-mistakes:t5:o4:1
# text = She said the wrong word by mistake
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	mistake	mistake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | She | the wrong word |  |  |  | by mistake | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic |

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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: failure an…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/33-failure-and-mistakes/t4/)
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