---
title: "The neighbours were effing and blinding at each other till midnight… — Soft words for hard things: rudeness a… · tree and pragmatics
description: "The neighbours were effing and blinding at each other till midnight." What was going on? Test 10 · ★★ of lesson 39 «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'
---

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# Test 10 · ★★ · Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"The neighbours were effing and blinding at each other till midnight." What was going on?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** neighbours · **What happens:** eff, blind, go on · **To what, where:** each

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This is test 10 · ★★ of lesson 39 «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/39-pardon-my-french/#t10).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* "The neighbours were effing and blinding at each other till midnight."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:39-pardon-my-french:t10:1
# text = "The neighbours were effing and blinding at each other till midnight."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	effing	eff	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	blinding	blind	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	7	obl	_	_
10	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	fixed	_	_
11	till	till	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	midnight	midnight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eff** *in a quote* | past · progressive | the neighbours |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **blind** *in a quote* | gerund | the neighbours *not said here* |  |  | each | midnight |  | 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:* What was going on?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:39-pardon-my-french:t10:2
# text = What was going on?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go on** | past · progressive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An eye test

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:39-pardon-my-french:t10:o1:1
# text = An eye test
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	test	test	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A loud argument full of swearing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:39-pardon-my-french:t10:o2:1
# text = A loud argument full of swearing
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	loud	loud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	argument	argument	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	swearing	swearing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A party with loud music and dancing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:39-pardon-my-french:t10:o3:1
# text = A party with loud music and dancing
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	loud	loud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	music	music	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	dancing	dancing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A quiet game of cards

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:39-pardon-my-french:t10:o4:1
# text = A quiet game of cards
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	game	game	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	cards	card	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

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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: rudeness a…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/39-pardon-my-french/t9/)
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