---
title: Why do adults use clear words like "died" with young children instea… — Family changes and grief · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do adults use clear words like "died" with young children instead of "went to sleep"? Test 8 · ★★ of lesson 214 «Family changes and grief» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Test 8 · ★★ · Family changes and grief

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do adults use clear words like "died" with young children instead of "went to sleep"?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** adults, clear words · **What happens:** use, die, go · **To what, where:** clear words, sleep · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★ of lesson 214 «Family changes and grief» of the everyday 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/everyday/214-family-changes-and-grief/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:214-family-changes-and-grief:t8:1
# text = Why do adults use clear words like "died" with young children instead of "went to sleep"?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	adults	adult	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	clear	clear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	like	like	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
14	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	17	case	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	fixed	_	_
16	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | present · do-support | adults | clear words |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent word=Theme clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **die** *in a quote* | past | clear words *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with young children | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 3 | **go** *in a quote* | past |  |  |  | sleep |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to sleep=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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.

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Clear words help children understand, and sleep words can make them afraid of sleeping

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:214-family-changes-and-grief:t8:o1:1
# text = Clear words help children understand, and sleep words can make them afraid of sleeping
1	Clear	clear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	help	help	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
10	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	xcomp	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	sleeping	sleeping	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | present | Clear words | children |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent child=Beneficiary clause=Theme |
| 2 | **understand** | infinitive | children *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **make** | can | sleep words | children *= child* |  |  |  | afraid *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset they=Product |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It does not matter which words are used

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:214-family-changes-and-grief:t8:o2:1
# text = It does not matter which words are used
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	matter	matter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	6	det	_	_
6	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **matter** | present · do-support | It |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **use** | present · passive |  | which words |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Died" sounds kinder than "asleep"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:214-family-changes-and-grief:t8:o3:1
# text = "Died" sounds kinder than "asleep"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
4	sounds	sound	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	kinder	kind	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
6	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** *in a quote* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | kind *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Children cannot understand clear words

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:214-family-changes-and-grief:t8:o4:1
# text = Children cannot understand clear words
1	Children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	clear	clear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **understand** | can | Children | clear words |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer word=Stimulus |

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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: [Family changes and grief, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/214-family-changes-and-grief/t7/)
- next →: [Family changes and grief, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/214-family-changes-and-grief/t9/)
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