---
title: Mia reckons "pardon my French" means the person is actually speaking… — Soft words for hard things: rudeness a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mia reckons "pardon my French" means the person is actually speaking French. right? Test 4 · ★★ 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's choic
---

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# Test 4 · ★★ · Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mia reckons "pardon my French" means the person is actually speaking French. right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Mia, person · **What happens:** reckon, pardon, mean, speak · **To what, where:** French · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:39-pardon-my-french:t4:1
# text = Mia reckons "pardon my French" means the person is actually speaking French. right?
1	Mia	Mia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	reckons	reckon	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	pardon	pardon	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	csubj	_	_
5	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	French	French	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
8	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	ccomp	_	_
14	French	French	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
16	right	right	INTJ	UH	_	2	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reckon** | present | Mia |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **pardon** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | my French |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent french=Theme |
| 3 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | present · progressive | the person | French |  |  |  | actually *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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, they switched to French

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:39-pardon-my-french:t4:o1:1
# text = Yes, they switched to French
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	switched	switch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	French	French	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **switch** | past | they |  | French |  |  |  | vn convert-26.6.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to french=Result |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, it means sorry for swearing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:39-pardon-my-french:t4:o2:1
# text = No, it means sorry for swearing
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	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	sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
6	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	swearing	swear	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | it |  |  |  |  | sorry *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **swear** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, it is a French greeting

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:39-pardon-my-french:t4:o3:1
# text = Yes, it is a French greeting
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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	French	French	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	greeting	greeting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, it means "I'm learning French"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:39-pardon-my-french:t4:o4:1
# text = No, it means "I'm learning French"
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	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	'm	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	learning	learn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	ccomp	_	_
9	French	French	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	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 | **learn** *in a quote* | present · progressive | I |  |  |  |  | french *property* | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: rudeness a…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/39-pardon-my-french/t3/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: rudeness a…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/39-pardon-my-french/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/39-pardon-my-french/)