Exam question 2 · Andersen's Tales, Rudy, part 66: an avalanche kills the un…

Identify the figure of speech employed when the narrator states that secrets are "like sand in a sieve."

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, narrator states · What happens: identify, employ, be, figure · To what, where: figure, speech, sand, sieve

This is exam question 2 of lesson 855 «Andersen's Tales, Rudy, part 66: an avalanche kills the uncle, and Rudy becomes the family's hunter and guide» of the books course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 figure	det
3	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 speech	case
5	speech	speech	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 figure	nmod
6	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 speech	acl
7	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	16 sand	advmod
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 states	det
9	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 states	compound
10	states	state	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 sand	nsubj
11	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 secrets	det
12	secrets	secret	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 states	conj
13	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 sand	cop
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 sand	punct
15	like	like	INTJ	_	16 sand	discourse
16	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 employed	obl
17	in	in	ADP	_	19 sieve	case
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 sieve	det
19	sieve	sieve	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 sand	nmod
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct
21	"	"	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the figure of speech		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent figure=Theme
2	employ	participle		speech not said here		vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	is a in a quote	present	the narrator states and that secrets	sand	a sieve	tree rules
4	figure			speech		nom figure «communication transitive»: of=patient

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

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

A metaphor for trust lost

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 metaphor	det
2	metaphor	metaphor	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	for	for	ADP	_	4 trust	case
4	trust	trust	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 metaphor	nmod
5	lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 metaphor	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lose	participle		a metaphor for trust not said here					vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

A simile comparing secrets to sand that slips through

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 simile	det
2	simile	simile	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	comparing	compare	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 simile	acl
4	secrets	secret	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 comparing	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 sand	mark
6	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 comparing	obj
7	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 slips	nsubj
8	slips	slip	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 sand	acl:relcl
9	through	through	ADV	_	8 slips	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compare	gerund	a simile not said here	secrets					tree rules
2	slip through	present	sand					through property	vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute

Option 3

A metaphor equating secrets with slipping grains

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 metaphor	det
2	metaphor	metaphor	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	equating	equate	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 metaphor	acl
4	secrets	secret	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 equating	obj
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 grains	case
6	slipping	slip	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 grains	amod
7	grains	grain	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 equating	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	equate	gerund	a metaphor not said here	secrets				with slipping grains	tree rules
2	slip	gerund							vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute

Option 4

A simile linking secrets to water flowing away

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 simile	det
2	simile	simile	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	linking	link	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 secrets	amod
4	secrets	secret	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 simile	conj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 water	mark
6	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 simile	conj
7	flowing	flow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 simile	acl
8	away	away	ADV	_	7 flowing	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	link	gerund							vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	flow away	gerund	a simile and linking secrets and water not said here					away property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/855-pg27200-part66/e2/