---
title: A boss about a new worker: "Not exactly a rocket scientist, but he w… — Soft words for hard things: failure an… · tree and pragmatics
description: A boss about a new worker: "Not exactly a rocket scientist, but he works hard." What is said? Test 12 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 the question a
---

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# Test 12 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes and stupi…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A boss about a new worker: "Not exactly a rocket scientist, but he works hard." What is said?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** boss · **What happens:** work, say · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 12 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/#t12).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A boss about a new worker: "Not exactly a rocket scientist, but he works hard."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t12:1
# text = A boss about a new worker: "Not exactly a rocket scientist, but he works hard."
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boss	boss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
3	about	about	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	worker	worker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
10	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	rocket	rocket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	scientist	scientist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	works	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **work** *in a quote* | present | a boss about a new worker and a rocket scientist |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=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 is said?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t12:2
# text = What is said?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is clever and lazy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t12:o1:1
# text = He is clever and lazy
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	lazy	lazy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | He |  |  |  |  | clever *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | He *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is not very clever but works hard

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t12:o2:1
# text = He is not very clever but works hard
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	works	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
8	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | He |  |  |  |  | clever *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **work** | present | He *not said here* |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is a scientist who works hard

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t12:o3:1
# text = He is a scientist who works hard
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	scientist	scientist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	works	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | He | a scientist |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **work** | present | a scientist |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He builds rockets at weekends

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t12:o4:1
# text = He builds rockets at weekends
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	builds	build	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	rockets	rocket	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	weekends	weekend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | present | He | rockets |  |  | weekend |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rocket=Product |

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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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