Exam question 2 · Soft words for hard things: weight and pregnancy and birth
It is given that a witness describes a person as "portly". Ascertain the physical characteristic so described.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: witness, you · What happens: give, describe, ascertain · To what, where: It, person, physical characteristic
This is exam question 2 of lesson 10 «Soft words for hard things: weight and pregnancy and birth» 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
Sentence 1: It is given that a witness describes a person as "portly".
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 describes | mark |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 witness | det |
| 6 | witness | witness | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 describes | nsubj |
| 7 | describes | describe | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | advcl |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 person | det |
| 9 | person | person | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 describes | obj |
| 10 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 12 portly | mark |
| 11 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 portly | punct |
| 12 | portly | portly | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 person | acl |
| 13 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 portly | punct |
| 14 | . | . | 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 | describe | present | a witness | a person | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent person=Theme |
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: Ascertain the physical characteristic so described.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ascertain | ascertain | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 characteristic | det |
| 3 | physical | physical | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 characteristic | amod |
| 4 | characteristic | characteristic | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Ascertain | obj |
| 5 | so | so | ADV | _ | 6 described | advmod |
| 6 | described | describe | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 characteristic | acl |
| 7 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Ascertain | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ascertain | imperative | you not said here | the physical characteristic | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent characteristic=Topic | ||||
| 2 | describe | participle | the physical characteristic not said here | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
Corpulence; being fat
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corpulence | corpulence | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 2 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 4 fat | punct |
| 3 | being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 4 fat | cop |
| 4 | fat | fat | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 1 Corpulence | conj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | gerund | fat property | tree rules |
Option 2
Dignified manners
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dignified | dignify | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 manners | amod |
| 2 | manners | manners | NOUN | Number=Ptan | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | dignify | participle | tree rules |
Option 3
Considerable height
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Considerable | considerable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 height | amod |
| 2 | height | height | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4
Employment at a harbour
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Employment | employment | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 2 | at | at | ADP | _ | 4 harbour | case |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 harbour | det |
| 4 | harbour | harbour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Employment | nmod |
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/euphemisms/10-weight-and-babies/e2/