---
title: TV host: "Tonight, a pop star who's — let's be honest — no spring ch… — Soft words for hard things: the toilet… · tree and pragmatics
description: TV host: "Tonight, a pop star who's — let's be honest — no spring chicken." What is the host saying? Test 7 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 qu
---

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# Test 7 · Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily function…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
TV host: "Tonight, a pop star who's — let's be honest — no spring chicken." What is the host saying?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** pop star, 's, host · **What happens:** be, let, say · **To what, where:** 's · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 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/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* TV host: "Tonight, a pop star who's — let's be honest — no spring chicken."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t7:1
# text = TV host: "Tonight, a pop star who's — let's be honest — no spring chicken."
1	TV	TV	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	host	host	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Tonight	tonight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	pop	pop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
10	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
12	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
13	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	cop	_	_
16	honest	honest	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	_
17	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
18	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	20	det	_	_
19	spring	spring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	_
20	chicken	chicken	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** *in a quote* | present | a pop star |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | 's |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent we=Theme |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | infinitive | 's *not said here* |  |  |  |  | honest *property* | 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is the host saying?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t7:2
# text = What is the host saying?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	host	host	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · progressive | the host |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pop star is not famous

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t7:o1:1
# text = The pop star is not famous
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	pop	pop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	famous	famous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | the pop star |  |  |  |  | famous *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pop star is not young

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t7:o2:1
# text = The pop star is not young
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	pop	pop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | the pop star |  |  |  |  | young *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pop star cannot dance

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t7:o3:1
# text = The pop star cannot dance
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	pop	pop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	dance	dance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **dance** | can | the pop star |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pop star is a vegetarian

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:8-toilets-and-getting-older:t7:o4:1
# text = The pop star is a vegetarian
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	pop	pop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	vegetarian	vegetarian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/t6/)
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