---
title: The science teacher drops the egg: "Ha! A teachable moment, everyone… — Soft words for hard things: failure an… · tree and pragmatics
description: The science teacher drops the egg: "Ha! A teachable moment, everyone — what went wrong?" What is she doing? Test 11 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 dependency tree and pragmatics of 
---

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# Test 11 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes and stupi…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The science teacher drops the egg: "Ha! A teachable moment, everyone — what went wrong?" What is she doing?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** science teacher, teachable moment, teacher · **What happens:** drop, go, do · **To what, where:** egg

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This is test 11 of lesson 35 «Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes and stupidity and madness» 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/35-mistakes-and-stupidity/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* The science teacher drops the egg: "Ha!

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t11:1
# text = The science teacher drops the egg: "Ha!
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	science	science	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	drops	drop	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	egg	egg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Ha	ha	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drop** | present | the science teacher | the egg |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent egg=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:* A teachable moment, everyone — what went wrong?"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t11:2
# text = A teachable moment, everyone — what went wrong?"
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	teachable	teachable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	3	conj	_	_
6	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	nsubj	_	_
8	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | a teachable moment |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* What is she doing?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t11:3
# text = What is she doing?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present · progressive | teacher |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Turning her mistake into a lesson

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t11:o1:1
# text = Turning her mistake into a lesson
1	Turning	turn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	mistake	mistake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	lesson	lesson	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | gerund |  | her mistake |  | a lesson |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent mistake=Theme into lesson=Trajectory |
| 2 | **mistake** |  | her *= she* |  |  |  |  |  | nom mistake «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Blaming a pupil

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t11:o2:1
# text = Blaming a pupil
1	Blaming	blame	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	pupil	pupil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blame** | gerund |  | a pupil |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pupil=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Starting a test

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t11:o3:1
# text = Starting a test
1	Starting	start	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	test	test	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | gerund |  | a test |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent test=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ending the lesson early

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t11:o4:1
# text = Ending the lesson early
1	Ending	end	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	lesson	lesson	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	early	early	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	1	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **end** | gerund |  | the lesson |  |  |  | early *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality lesson=Eventuality |

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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 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/35-mistakes-and-stupidity/t10/)
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