---
title: "What the heck is that smell?" How strong is "heck"? — Soft words for hard things: rudeness a… · tree and pragmatics
description: "What the heck is that smell?" How strong is "heck"? Test 4 · ★ 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 4 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"What the heck is that smell?" How strong is "heck"?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** heck · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** smell, strong heck

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* "What the heck is that smell?"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:38-drat-and-the-f-word:t4:1
# text = "What the heck is that smell?"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	DET	WP	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	heck	heck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	smell	smell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | what heck | that smell |  |  |  |  | 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* How strong is "heck"?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:38-drat-and-the-f-word:t4:2
# text = How strong is "heck"?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	heck	heck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Very strong: worse than any word

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:38-drat-and-the-f-word:t4:o1:1
# text = Very strong: worse than any word
1	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
4	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	conj	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
7	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mild: it stands in for "hell"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:38-drat-and-the-f-word:t4:o2:1
# text = Mild: it stands in for "hell"
1	Mild	mild	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	stands	stand	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	hell	hell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand in** | present | Mild | Mild *not said here* |  |  |  | for hell | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer mild=Stimulus for hell=Attribute |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Not a swear at all: it means "neck"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:38-drat-and-the-f-word:t4:o3:1
# text = Not a swear at all: it means "neck"
1	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	swear	swear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | swear | neck |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent neck=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Medium: it is a word for a farm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:38-drat-and-the-f-word:t4:o4:1
# text = Medium: it is a word for a farm
1	Medium	medium	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Medium | a word |  |  |  | for a farm | 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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