Exam question 3 · Soft words for hard things: death and dying

Select the response that most accurately characterises the expression "kicked the bucket".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, most, expression · What happens: select, characteris, kick · To what, where: response, expression, bucket

This is exam question 3 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 characterises	mark
5	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	7 characterises	nsubj
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	5 most	advmod
7	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Select	advcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 expression	det
9	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 characterises	obj
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 kicked	punct
11	kicked	kick	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 expression	acl:relcl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 bucket	det
13	bucket	bucket	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 kicked	obj
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 kicked	punct
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	characteris	present	most	the expression	tree rules
3	kick in a quote	past	the expression not said here	the bucket	vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent bucket=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 literal description of upsetting a vessel of water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 description	det
2	literal	literal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 description	amod
3	description	description	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 upsetting	mark
5	upsetting	upset	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 description	acl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 vessel	det
7	vessel	vessel	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 upsetting	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 water	case
9	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 vessel	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	upset	gerund	a literal description not said here	a vessel of water					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus vessel=Experiencer

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

An informal and humorous way of stating that a person died

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 way	det
2	informal	informal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 way	amod
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 humorous	cc
4	humorous	humorous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 informal	conj
5	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 stating	mark
7	stating	state	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 way	acl
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	11 died	mark
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 person	det
10	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 died	nsubj
11	died	die	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 stating	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	state speech: other	gerund	a informal way not said here						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	die	past	a person						vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute

Option 3

A term denoting the commencement of a sporting contest

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 term	det
2	term	term	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	denoting	denote	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 term	acl
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 commencement	det
5	commencement	commencement	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 denoting	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 contest	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 contest	det
8	sporting	sport	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 contest	amod
9	contest	contest	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 commencement	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	gerund	a term not said here	the commencement of a sporting contest					vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot commencement=Topic
2	sport	gerund							tree rules

Option 4

A formal and respectful way of stating that a person died

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 way	det
2	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 way	amod
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 respectful	cc
4	respectful	respectful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 formal	conj
5	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 stating	mark
7	stating	state	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 way	acl
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	11 died	mark
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 person	det
10	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 died	nsubj
11	died	die	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 stating	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	state speech: other	gerund	a formal way not said here						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	die	past	a 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/e3/