---
title: Little brother says "shoot" is a swear and he's telling Mum. right? — Soft words for hard things: rudeness a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Little brother says "shoot" is a swear and he's telling Mum. right? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 38 «Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 3 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Little brother says "shoot" is a swear and he's telling Mum. right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Little brother, shoot, brother · **What happens:** say, be, tell · **To what, where:** swear, Mum · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 38 «Soft words for hard things: 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/38-drat-and-the-f-word/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:38-drat-and-the-f-word:t3:1
# text = Little brother says "shoot" is a swear and he's telling Mum. right?
1	Little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	shoot	shoot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	swear	swear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
14	Mum	mum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
16	right	right	INTJ	UH	_	13	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Little brother |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present | shoot | a swear |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · progressive | brother |  | Mum |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent mum=Recipient |

<!-- .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 -->
No, it means "well done"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:38-drat-and-the-f-word:t3:o1:1
# text = No, it means "well done"
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
7	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** *not said to happen, in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, it is the worst word in English

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:38-drat-and-the-f-word:t3:o2:1
# text = Yes, it is the worst word in English
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	worst	bad	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
7	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, it is about guns so it is banned at school

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:38-drat-and-the-f-word:t3:o3:1
# text = Yes, it is about guns so it is banned at school
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	guns	gun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
7	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	banned	ban	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | about guns | tree rules |
| 2 | **ban** | present · passive | guns *not said here* | it |  | school |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, it is a mild stand-in, not a real swear

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:38-drat-and-the-f-word:t3:o4:1
# text = No, it is a mild stand-in, not a real swear
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	9	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
6	mild	mild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
7	stand	stand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	in	in	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	swear	swear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | it | a mild stand in and a real swear |  |  |  |  | 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.

<!-- /div -->

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