---
title: Whereas a technical support department attributes a malfunction to "… — Soft words for hard things: failure an… · tree and pragmatics
description: Whereas a technical support department attributes a malfunction to "user error", identify the party held responsible thereby. Exam question 1 of lesson 35 «Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes and stupidity and madness» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependen
---

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# Exam question 1 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes and stupi…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Whereas a technical support department attributes a malfunction to "user error", identify the party held responsible thereby.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** technical support department, you, party · **What happens:** attribute, identify, hold · **To what, where:** malfunction

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This is exam question 1 of lesson 35 «Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes and stupidity and madness» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/35-mistakes-and-stupidity/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:e1:1
# text = Whereas a technical support department attributes a malfunction to "user error", identify the party held responsible thereby.
1	Whereas	whereas	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	technical	technical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	support	support	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	department	department	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	attributes	attribute	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	malfunction	malfunction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
10	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	user	user	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	error	error	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
15	identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	ccomp	_	_
19	responsible	responsible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	_
20	thereby	thereby	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **attribute** | present | a technical support department | a malfunction |  |  |  | user error *obl* | tree rules |
| 2 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **hold** | past | the party |  |  |  |  | responsible, thereby *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The technical support department itself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:e1:o1:1
# text = The technical support department itself
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	technical	technical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	support	support	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	department	department	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	4	nmod:unmarked	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The manufacturer of the equipment

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:e1:o2:1
# text = The manufacturer of the equipment
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	manufacturer	manufacturer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	equipment	equipment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No party whatsoever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:e1:o3:1
# text = No party whatsoever
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The person operating the equipment

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:e1:o4:1
# text = The person operating the equipment
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	operating	operate	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	equipment	equipment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **operate** | gerund | the person *not said here* | the equipment |  |  |  |  | vn function-105.2.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Theme equipment=Attribute |

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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 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/35-mistakes-and-stupidity/t12/)
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