Exam question 3 · Poetry: simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration
It is given that a poet attributes human actions to an inanimate object (a thing that is not alive). State the name of the device so employed.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: poet, thing, you, device · What happens: give, attribute, not be, state, employ, name · To what, where: It, human actions, name, device
This is exam question 3 of lesson 46 «Poetry: simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration» of the English 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
Sentence 1: It is given that a poet attributes human actions to an inanimate object (a thing that is not alive).
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 given | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | aux:pass |
| 3 | given | give | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 7 attributes | mark |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 poet | det |
| 6 | poet | poet | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 attributes | nsubj |
| 7 | attributes | attribute | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | advcl |
| 8 | human | human | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 actions | amod |
| 9 | actions | action | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 attributes | obj |
| 10 | to | to | ADP | _ | 13 object | case |
| 11 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 object | det |
| 12 | inanimate | inanimate | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 object | amod |
| 13 | object | object | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 attributes | obl |
| 14 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 16 thing | punct |
| 15 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 16 thing | det |
| 16 | thing | thing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 object | appos |
| 17 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 20 alive | nsubj |
| 18 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 20 alive | cop |
| 19 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 20 alive | advmod |
| 20 | alive | alive | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 thing | acl:relcl |
| 21 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 16 thing | punct |
| 22 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 given | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | give | present · passive | It | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 2 | attribute | present | a poet | human actions | to a inanimate object | tree rules | |||
| 3 | not is | present | a thing | alive property | tree rules |
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.
Sentence 2: State the name of the device so employed.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | State | state | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 name | det |
| 3 | name | name | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 State | obj |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 device | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 device | det |
| 6 | device | device | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 name | nmod |
| 7 | so | so | ADV | _ | 8 employed | advmod |
| 8 | employed | employ | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 device | acl:relcl |
| 9 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 State | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | state speech: other | imperative | you not said here | the name of the device | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent name=Topic | ||||
| 2 | employ | past | the device not said here | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | name | the device | nom name «communication transitive»: of=patient |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Onomatopoeia
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Onomatopoeia | onomatopoeia | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 2
The extended simile
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 simile | det |
| 2 | extended | extended | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 simile | amod |
| 3 | simile | simile | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
Personification
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Personification | personification | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4
Alliteration
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alliteration | alliteration | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
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/english/46-poetry-simile-metaphor-personification-alliteration/e3/