---
title: "Mum, I made a boo-boo — the cat's food went in the fish tank." How… — Soft words for hard things: failure an… · tree and pragmatics
description: "Mum, I made a boo-boo — the cat's food went in the fish tank." How big is the mistake meant to sound? Test 10 of lesson 34 «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
---

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# Test 10 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Mum, I made a boo-boo — the cat's food went in the fish tank." How big is the mistake meant to sound?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** I, food · **What happens:** make, go, be, mean, sound · **To what, where:** boo boo, fish tank, big mistake

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 of lesson 34 «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/34-failure-and-mistakes/#t10).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* "Mum, I made a boo-boo — the cat's food went in the fish tank."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t10:1
# text = "Mum, I made a boo-boo — the cat's food went in the fish tank."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Mum	mum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	boo	boo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	boo	boo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
10	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	's	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	tank	tank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** *in a quote* | past | I | a boo boo |  |  |  | Mum *vocative* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boo=Product |
| 2 | **go** *in a quote* | past | the cat's food |  |  | the fish tank |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in tank=Location |

<!-- .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:* How big is the mistake meant to sound?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t10:2
# text = How big is the mistake meant to sound?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	mistake	mistake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	meant	mean	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	sound	sound	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the big mistake |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **mean** | participle |  | the big mistake *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **sound** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Huge and dangerous

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t10:o1:1
# text = Huge and dangerous
1	Huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	dangerous	dangerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Not a mistake at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t10:o2:1
# text = Not a mistake at all
1	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	mistake	mistake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Small and silly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t10:o3:1
# text = Small and silly
1	Small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	silly	silly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Clever and planned

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:34-failure-and-mistakes:t10:o4:1
# text = Clever and planned
1	Clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	planned	plan	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **plan** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |

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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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