---
title: Brother: "stop the car, I gotta take a leak!" Mum: "Five more minute… — Soft words for hard things: the toilet… · tree and pragmatics
description: Brother: "stop the car, I gotta take a leak!" Mum: "Five more minutes." What does he need? Test 4 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
---

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# Test 4 · Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily function…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Brother: "stop the car, I gotta take a leak!" Mum: "Five more minutes." What does he need?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Brother, I · **What happens:** stop, take, need · **To what, where:** car, leak

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Brother: "stop the car, I gotta take a leak!"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t4:1
# text = Brother: "stop the car, I gotta take a leak!"
1	Brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	car	car	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	gotta	gotta	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	leak	leak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** *in a quote* | infinitive | Brother | the car |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector car=Eventuality |
| 2 | **take** *in a quote* | infinitive | I | a leak |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leak=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:* Mum: "Five more minutes."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t4:2
# text = Mum: "Five more minutes."
1	Mum	mum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	Five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
5	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
6	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

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

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* What does he need?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t4:3
# text = What does he need?
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	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	need	need	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 | **need** | present · do-support | Brother |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot what=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To be sick

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t4:o1:1
# text = To be sick
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
2	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	cop	_	_
3	sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To urinate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t4:o2:1
# text = To urinate
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	urinate	urinate	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **urinate** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To check a flat tyre

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t4:o3:1
# text = To check a flat tyre
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	check	check	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	flat	flat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	tyre	tyre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **check** | to-infinitive |  | a flat tyre |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tyre=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To fix a leaking bottle

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t4:o4:1
# text = To fix a leaking bottle
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	fix	fix	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	leaking	leaking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	bottle	bottle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fix** | to-infinitive |  | a leaking bottle |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent bottle=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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/t3/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: the toilet…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/t5/)
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