Exam question 1 · Soft words for hard things: death and dying

Identify the plain meaning of the expression "passed away" as employed in a formal notice of bereavement.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, pass away, employ, mean, notice · To what, where: plain meaning, expression, formal notice, bereavement

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1 «Soft words for hard things: death and dying» of the euphemisms 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	4 meaning	det
3	plain	plain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 meaning	amod
4	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 expression	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 expression	det
7	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 meaning	nmod
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 passed	punct
9	passed	pass	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 expression	acl
10	away	away	ADV	_	9 passed	advmod
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 passed	punct
12	as	as	SCONJ	_	13 employed	mark
13	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 passed	advcl
14	in	in	ADP	_	17 notice	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 notice	det
16	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 notice	amod
17	notice	notice	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 employed	obl
18	of	of	ADP	_	19 bereavement	case
19	bereavement	bereavement	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 notice	nmod
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the plain meaning of the expression			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent meaning=Theme
2	pass away in a quote	participle		the expression not said here		away property	vn die-42.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient
3	employ	participle			a formal notice of bereavement		vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	mean			the expression			nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient
5	notice			bereavement			nom notice «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

Was discharged from hospital

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 discharged	aux:pass
2	discharged	discharge	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	4 hospital	case
4	hospital	hospital	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 discharged	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discharge	past · passive				hospital			vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: from hospital=Source

Option 2

Relocated to another address

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Relocated	relocate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	to	to	ADP	_	4 address	case
3	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	4 address	det
4	address	address	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Relocated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	relocate	participle						to another address	tree rules

Option 3

Lost consciousness briefly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 consciousness	amod
2	consciousness	consciousness	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	briefly	briefly	ADV	_	2 consciousness	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lose	participle							vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The person has died

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 person	det
2	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 died	nsubj
3	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 died	aux
4	died	die	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	die	present · perfect	the person						vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute

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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