---
title: Jess reckons "long in the tooth" means someone has big teeth. Is she… — Soft words for hard things: the toilet… · tree and pragmatics
description: Jess reckons "long in the tooth" means someone has big teeth. Is she right? Test 10 of lesson 8 «Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions and age and looks» 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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# Test 10 · Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily function…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Jess reckons "long in the tooth" means someone has big teeth. Is she right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Jess, someone · **What happens:** reckon, mean, have, be · **To what, where:** long, big teeth · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 of lesson 8 «Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions and age and looks» 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/8-toilets-and-getting-older/#t10).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Jess reckons "long in the tooth" means someone has big teeth.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t10:1
# text = Jess reckons "long in the tooth" means someone has big teeth.
1	Jess	Jess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	reckons	reckon	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	nsubj	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	tooth	tooth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
9	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	11	nsubj	_	_
11	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
12	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reckon** | present | Jess | long |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent long=Attribute |
| 2 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **have** | present | someone | big teeth |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tooth=Patient |

<!-- .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:* Is she right?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t10:2
# text = Is she right?
1	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	right	right	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Jess |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, it means old

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t10:o1:1
# text = No, it means old
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	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, hungry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t10:o2:1
# text = No, hungry
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, it means big teeth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t10:o3:1
# text = Yes, it means big teeth
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	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	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | it | big teeth |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tooth=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, it means a sharp bite

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t10:o4:1
# text = Yes, it means a sharp bite
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	bite	bite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | it | a sharp bite |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bite=Topic |

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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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