---
title: In a novel: "The old lady excused herself to the smallest room." Whe… — Soft words for hard things: the toilet… · tree and pragmatics
description: In a novel: "The old lady excused herself to the smallest room." Where did she go? Test 12 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 eac
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/t12/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/) / [Soft words for hard things: the toilet…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/) / t12

# Test 12 · Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily function…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a novel: "The old lady excused herself to the smallest room." Where did she go?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** old lady, lady · **What happens:** excuse, go · **To what, where:** lady, novel

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 12 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/#t12).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a novel: "The old lady excused herself to the smallest room."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t12:1
# text = In a novel: "The old lady excused herself to the smallest room."
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	novel	novel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	excused	excuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	9	obj	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	smallest	small	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	14	amod	_	_
14	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **excuse** *in a quote* | past | the old lady | lady |  | a novel |  | to the smallest room | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent herself=Theme |

<!-- .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:* Where did she go?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t12:2
# text = Where did she go?
1	Where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	4	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	go	go	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 | **go** | past · do-support | lady |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The toilet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t12:o1:1
# text = The toilet
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	toilet	toilet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pantry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t12:o2:1
# text = The pantry
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pantry	pantry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A child's bedroom

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t12:o3:1
# text = A child's bedroom
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	bedroom	bedroom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The garden shed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t12:o4:1
# text = The garden shed
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	shed	shed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: the toilet…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/t11/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: the toilet…, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/t13/)
- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions and age and looks](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/)