---
title: Which one is a white lie, not a serious lie? — Olympiad: the euphemism detective ★★★ · tree and pragmatics
description: Which one is a white lie, not a serious lie? Test 12 · ★★★ of lesson 41 «Olympiad: the euphemism detective ★★★» 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 12 · ★★★ · Olympiad: the euphemism detective ★★★

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which one is a white lie, not a serious lie?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** one · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** white lie

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 12 · ★★★ of lesson 41 «Olympiad: the euphemism detective ★★★» 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/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:41-olympiad-euphemism-detective:t12:1
# text = Which one is a white lie, not a serious lie?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	lie	lie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	serious	serious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	lie	lie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | which one | a white lie and a serious lie |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
A thief telling porkies to the police

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:41-olympiad-euphemism-detective:t12:o1:1
# text = A thief telling porkies to the police
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	thief	thief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	porkies	porky	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	police	police	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund | a thief *not said here* | porkies | the police |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent porky=Topic to police=Recipient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A minister "misremembering" a secret payment

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:41-olympiad-euphemism-detective:t12:o2:1
# text = A minister "misremembering" a secret payment
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	minister	minister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	misremembering	misremember	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	secret	secret	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	payment	payment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **misremember** *in a quote* | gerund | a minister | a secret payment |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hiding the real cost of a new bridge

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:41-olympiad-euphemism-detective:t12:o3:1
# text = Hiding the real cost of a new bridge
1	Hiding	hide	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	cost	cost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	bridge	bridge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | gerund |  | the real cost of a new bridge |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cost=Patient |
| 2 | **cost** |  |  | a new bridge |  |  |  |  | nom cost «possession transitive»: of=patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Love the jumper, Nan!" about one you dislike

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:41-olympiad-euphemism-detective:t12:o4:1
# text = "Love the jumper, Nan!" about one you dislike
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Love	love	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	10	nsubj	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	jumper	jumper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	Nan	Nan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
9	about	about	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	dislike	dislike	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **love** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | the jumper |  |  |  | Nan *vocative* | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer jumper=Stimulus |
| 2 | **dislike** | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer |

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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: [Olympiad: the euphemism detective ★★★, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/t11/)
- next →: [Olympiad: the euphemism detective ★★★, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Olympiad: the euphemism detective ★★★](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/)