Exam question 1 · Soft words for hard things: pregnancy and birth

Identify the meaning most accurately conveyed by the expression "a little one on the way" when employed in respect of a family member.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, convey, employ, respect · To what, where: meaning, respect, family member

This is exam question 1 of lesson 11 «Soft words for hard things: 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

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 meaning	det
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	5 accurately	advmod
5	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	6 conveyed	advmod
6	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 meaning	acl:relcl
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 expression	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 expression	det
9	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 conveyed	obl
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 one	punct
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 one	det
12	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 one	amod
13	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 expression	appos
14	on	on	ADP	_	16 way	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 way	det
16	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 one	nmod
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 one	punct
18	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	19 employed	advmod
19	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 conveyed	advcl
20	in	in	ADP	_	21 respect	case
21	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 employed	obl
22	of	of	ADP	_	25 member	case
23	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	25 member	det
24	family	family	NOUN	Number=Sing	25 member	compound
25	member	member	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 respect	nmod
26	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the meaning			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent meaning=Theme
2	convey	participle		the meaning not said here		by the expression; accurately property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	employ	participle			respect of a family member		vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	respect			a family member			nom respect «cognition 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 · ✓ the right answer

A child is expected to be born

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 child	det
2	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 expected	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 expected	aux:pass
4	expected	expect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	7 born	mark
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 born	aux:pass
7	born	bear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 expected	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	expect	present · passive		a child					tree rules
2	bear not said to happen	to-infinitive · passive	a child not said here						vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»

Option 2

A young child is walking towards the house

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 child	det
2	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 child	amod
3	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 walking	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 walking	aux
5	walking	walk	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
6	towards	towards	ADP	_	8 house	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 house	det
8	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 walking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	walk	present · progressive	a young child			the house			vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme towards house=Destination

Option 3

A minor parcel is in transit

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 parcel	det
2	minor	minor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 parcel	amod
3	parcel	parcel	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 transit	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 transit	cop
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 transit	case
6	transit	transit	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	a minor parcel			transit			tree rules

Option 4

A small visitor is approaching

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 visitor	det
2	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 visitor	amod
3	visitor	visitor	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 approaching	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 approaching	aux
5	approaching	approach	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	approach	present · progressive	a small visitor						vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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/11-pregnancy-and-birth/e1/