---
title: Gran, in an old story: "Stop the car, I need to spend a penny." What… — Soft words for hard things: the toilet… · tree and pragmatics
description: Gran, in an old story: "Stop the car, I need to spend a penny." What does Gran want? Test 6 of lesson 6 «Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's 
---

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# Test 6 · Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Gran, in an old story: "Stop the car, I need to spend a penny." What does Gran want?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** I, Gran · **What happens:** stop, need, spend, want · **To what, where:** car, penny

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 of lesson 6 «Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions» 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/6-toilet-words/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Gran, in an old story: "Stop the car, I need to spend a penny."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:6-toilet-words:t6:1
# text = Gran, in an old story: "Stop the car, I need to spend a penny."
1	Gran	Gran	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	car	car	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	spend	spend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	penny	penny	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | the car |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality car=Eventuality |
| 2 | **need** *in a quote* | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **spend** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | a penny |  |  |  |  | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent penny=Asset |

<!-- .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 does Gran want?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:6-toilet-words:t6:2
# text = What does Gran want?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	Gran	Gran	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | present · do-support | Gran |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot what=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To give money to a beggar

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:6-toilet-words:t6:o1:1
# text = To give money to a beggar
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	give	give	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	beggar	beggar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | to-infinitive |  | money | a beggar |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent money=Theme to beggar=Recipient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To buy something at a shop

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:6-toilet-words:t6:o2:1
# text = To buy something at a shop
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	buy	buy	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	obj	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	shop	shop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | to-infinitive |  | something |  | a shop |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent something=Theme at shop=Asset |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To pay for petrol

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:6-toilet-words:t6:o3:1
# text = To pay for petrol
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	pay	pay	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	petrol	petrol	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pay** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | for petrol | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent for petrol=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To use a toilet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:6-toilet-words:t6:o4:1
# text = To use a toilet
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	use	use	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	toilet	toilet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | to-infinitive |  | a toilet |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent toilet=Patient |

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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: the toilet…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/6-toilet-words/t5/)
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