---
title: Gossip: "Her new boyfriend? Lovely, but not the sharpest tool in the… — Soft words for hard things: failure an… · tree and pragmatics
description: Gossip: "Her new boyfriend? Lovely, but not the sharpest tool in the shed." What is said about him? Test 4 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 quest
---

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# Test 4 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes and stupi…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Gossip: "Her new boyfriend? Lovely, but not the sharpest tool in the shed." What is said about him?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** say · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 4 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Gossip: "Her new boyfriend?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t4:1
# text = Gossip: "Her new boyfriend?
1	Gossip	gossip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
5	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	boyfriend	boyfriend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

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

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Lovely, but not the sharpest tool in the shed."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t4:2
# text = Lovely, but not the sharpest tool in the shed."
1	Lovely	lovely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	sharpest	sharp	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
7	tool	tool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	shed	shed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* What is said about him?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t4:3
# text = What is said about him?
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	_	_
4	about	about	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is not kind

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t4:o1:1
# text = He is not kind
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	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

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

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t4:o2:1
# text = He is not very clever
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	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He has no tools

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t4:o3:1
# text = He has no tools
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	tools	tool	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | He | no tools |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tool=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is a gardener

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:35-mistakes-and-stupidity:t4:o4:1
# text = He is a gardener
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	gardener	gardener	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | He | a gardener |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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