---
title: Ascertain the meaning most accurately conveyed by the prefatory phra… — Soft words for hard things: rudeness a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the meaning most accurately conveyed by the prefatory phrase "with all due respect". Exam question 2 of lesson 40 «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 optio
---

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# Exam question 2 · Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the meaning most accurately conveyed by the prefatory phrase "with all due respect".

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, convey · **To what, where:** meaning

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 40 «Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/40-with-all-due-respect/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:40-with-all-due-respect:e2:1
# text = Ascertain the meaning most accurately conveyed by the prefatory phrase "with all due respect".
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	5	advmod	_	_
5	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	conveyed	convey	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	prefatory	prefatory	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	phrase	phrase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	det	_	_
14	due	due	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	respect	respect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the meaning |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic |
| 2 | **convey** | participle |  | the meaning *not said here* |  |  |  | by the prefatory phrase with all due respect; accurately *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
The speaker is about to tender an apology

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:40-with-all-due-respect:e2:o1:1
# text = The speaker is about to tender an apology
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	speaker	speaker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	tender	tender	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	apology	apology	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the speaker |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **tender** | to-infinitive | the speaker *not said here* | a apology |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The speaker is about to express disagreement

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:40-with-all-due-respect:e2:o2:1
# text = The speaker is about to express disagreement
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	speaker	speaker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	express	express	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	disagreement	disagreement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the speaker |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **express** | to-infinitive | the speaker *not said here* | disagreement |  |  |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent disagreement=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The speaker is about to make a request

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:40-with-all-due-respect:e2:o3:1
# text = The speaker is about to make a request
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	speaker	speaker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	request	request	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the speaker |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive | the speaker *not said here* | a request |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset request=Product |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The speaker is about to express admiration

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:40-with-all-due-respect:e2:o4:1
# text = The speaker is about to express admiration
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	speaker	speaker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	express	express	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	admiration	admiration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the speaker |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **express** | to-infinitive | the speaker *not said here* | admiration |  |  |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent admiration=Theme |

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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…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/40-with-all-due-respect/e1/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: rudeness a…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/40-with-all-due-respect/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/40-with-all-due-respect/)