---
title: ★★ «Not bad», «not unhappy», «not too shabby», «no small thing». Wha… — Not unhappy and not half: litotes · tree and pragmatics
description: ★★ «Not bad», «not unhappy», «not too shabby», «no small thing». What do they all have in common? Test 7 · ★★ of lesson 50 «Not unhappy and not half: litotes» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice wa
---

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# Test 7 · ★★ · Not unhappy and not half: litotes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
★★ «Not bad», «not unhappy», «not too shabby», «no small thing». What do they all have in common?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** they · **What happens:** have · **To what, where:** common

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★★ of lesson 50 «Not unhappy and not half: litotes» of the language 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/language/50-not-unhappy-and-not-half-litotes/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* ★★ «Not bad», «not unhappy», «not too shabby», «no small thing».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:50-not-unhappy-and-not-half-litotes:t7:1
# text = ★★ «Not bad», «not unhappy», «not too shabby», «no small thing».
1	★	★	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	★	★	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	1	dep	_	_
3	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	unhappy	unhappy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
15	too	too	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	shabby	shabby	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	22	det	_	_
21	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What do they all have in common?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:50-not-unhappy-and-not-half-litotes:t7:2
# text = What do they all have in common?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
5	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present · do-support | they |  |  | common |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They say something good by saying «not» plus its opposite

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:50-not-unhappy-and-not-half-litotes:t7:o1:1
# text = They say something good by saying «not» plus its opposite
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	obj	_	_
4	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
5	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
7	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
10	plus	plus	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	opposite	opposite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | They | something |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent something=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are all sarcasm that means the opposite

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:50-not-unhappy-and-not-half-litotes:t7:o2:1
# text = They are all sarcasm that means the opposite
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	all	all	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	sarcasm	sarcasm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	opposite	opposite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | They | sarcasm |  |  |  | all *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **mean** | present | sarcasm | the opposite |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent opposite=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They all mean that the speaker is quite disappointed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:50-not-unhappy-and-not-half-litotes:t7:o3:1
# text = They all mean that the speaker is quite disappointed
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	advmod	_	_
3	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	speaker	speaker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	disappointed	disappointed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | the speaker |  |  |  |  | disappointed *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are all hyperbole that makes things bigger

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:50-not-unhappy-and-not-half-litotes:t7:o4:1
# text = They are all hyperbole that makes things bigger
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	all	all	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	hyperbole	hyperbole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
8	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | They | hyperbole |  |  |  | all *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** | present | hyperbole | things |  |  |  | big *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset thing=Product |

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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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