Exam question 4 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, Soup from a Sausage Skewer: the mo…

Identify the figure of speech employed in the phrase "soup from a sausage skewer", as used by the narrator.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, employ, use, figure · To what, where: figure, speech

This is exam question 4 of lesson 992 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, Soup from a Sausage Skewer: the mouse's adventures end in a wedding and a critics' complaint, then storks appear on a roof» 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	11 soup	amod
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 phrase	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 phrase	det
9	phrase	phrase	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 soup	compound
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 phrase	punct
11	soup	soup	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 speech	conj
12	from	from	ADP	_	15 skewer	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 skewer	det
14	sausage	sausage	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 skewer	compound
15	skewer	skewer	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 soup	nmod
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 skewer	punct
17	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 used	punct
18	as	as	SCONJ	_	19 used	mark
19	used	use	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Identify	parataxis
20	by	by	ADP	_	22 narrator	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 narrator	det
22	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 used	obl
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the figure of speech and employed phrase soup from a sausage skewer		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent figure=Theme
2	employ	participle				vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	use	participle			by the narrator	vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	figure			speech and employed phrase soup from a sausage skewer		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 simile comparing soup to a proverb for children

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	soup	soup	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 comparing	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 proverb	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 proverb	det
7	proverb	proverb	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 comparing	obl
8	for	for	ADP	_	9 children	case
9	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 proverb	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compare	gerund	a simile not said here	soup				to a proverb for children	vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent soup=Patient

Option 2

A proverb whose sense is clear to every reader

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 proverb	det
2	proverb	proverb	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 clear	nsubj
3	whose	whose	PRON	Poss=Yes PronType=Rel	4 sense	nmod:poss
4	sense	sense	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 clear	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 clear	cop
6	clear	clear	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	to	to	ADP	_	9 reader	case
8	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	9 reader	det
9	reader	reader	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 clear	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	a proverb					to every reader; clear property	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

A proverb whose meaning is open to many interpretations

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 proverb	det
2	proverb	proverb	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 open	nsubj
3	whose	whose	PRON	Poss=Yes PronType=Rel	4 meaning	nmod:poss
4	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 open	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 open	cop
6	open	open	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	to	to	ADP	_	9 interpretations	case
8	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 interpretations	amod
9	interpretations	interpretation	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 open	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	a proverb					to many interpretations; open property	tree rules

Option 4

A metaphor.

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	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 metaphor	punct

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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/992-pg27200-part203/e4/