---
title: Why do phrases like "one card short of a full deck" mean someone is… — Soft words for hard things: stupidity… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do phrases like "one card short of a full deck" mean someone is stupid? Test 11 · ★ of lesson 37 «Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness and rudeness and swearing» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each op
---

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# Test 11 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness and rude…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do phrases like "one card short of a full deck" mean someone is stupid?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** phrases, someone · **What happens:** mean, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 37 «Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness and rudeness and swearing» 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/37-bats-and-gosh/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:37-bats-and-gosh:t11:1
# text = Why do phrases like "one card short of a full deck" mean someone is stupid?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
3	phrases	phrase	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	card	card	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	deck	deck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
14	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	17	nsubj	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	stupid	stupid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present · do-support | phrases like one card |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | someone |  |  |  |  | stupid *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because stupid people lose cards

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:37-bats-and-gosh:t11:o1:1
# text = Because stupid people lose cards
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	stupid	stupid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	lose	lose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	cards	card	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | present | stupid people | cards |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent card=Eventuality |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because a full deck is very heavy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:37-bats-and-gosh:t11:o2:1
# text = Because a full deck is very heavy
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	deck	deck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They picture something missing, like a part of the mind

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:37-bats-and-gosh:t11:o3:1
# text = They picture something missing, like a part of the mind
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	picture	picture	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	obj	_	_
4	missing	missing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **picture** | present | They | something |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent something=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because people who play card games all day become stupid

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:37-bats-and-gosh:t11:o4:1
# text = Because people who play card games all day become stupid
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
3	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	play	play	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
5	card	card	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	games	game	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
9	become	become	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	stupid	stupid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | present | people | card games |  |  | day |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent game=Theme |
| 2 | **become** | infinitive | people |  |  |  |  | stupid *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

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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: stupidity…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/37-bats-and-gosh/t10/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: stupidity…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/37-bats-and-gosh/t12/)
- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness and rudeness and swearing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/37-bats-and-gosh/)