Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: pregnancy and birth

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the expression "the patter of tiny feet"?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: tiny feet · What happens: follow, characteris, patter · To what, where: expression

This is exam question 4 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 expression	det
10	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 patter	punct
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 patter	det
13	patter	patter	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 expression	appos
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 feet	case
15	tiny	tiny	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 feet	amod
16	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 patter	nmod
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 patter	punct
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the expression	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	patter in a quote		tiny feet			nom patter «communication intransitive»: of=agent

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

It denotes the sound of rainfall

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	2 denotes	nsubj
2	denotes	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 sound	det
4	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denotes	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 rainfall	case
6	rainfall	rainfall	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 sound	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	present	It	the sound of rainfall					vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot sound=Topic

Option 2

It signifies a dance performed by children

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	2 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 dance	det
4	dance	dance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 signifies	obj
5	performed	perform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 dance	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 children	case
7	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 performed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	present	It	a dance					vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot dance=Theme
2	perform	participle		a dance not said here				by children	vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

It describes rodents within a dwelling

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	2 describes	nsubj
2	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	rodents	rodent	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 describes	obj
4	within	within	ADP	_	6 dwelling	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 dwelling	det
6	dwelling	dwelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 describes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	describe	present	It	rodents				within a dwelling	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent rodent=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It refers to a baby that is expected or wished for

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	2 refers	nsubj
2	refers	refer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 baby	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 baby	det
5	baby	baby	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 refers	obl
6	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 expected	nsubj:pass
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 expected	aux:pass
8	expected	expect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 baby	acl:relcl
9	or	or	CCONJ	_	10 wished	cc
10	wished	wish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 expected	conj
11	for	for	ADP	_	10 wished	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	refer	present	It		to a baby	vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to baby=Co-Theme
2	expect	present · passive		a baby		vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
3	wish	participle				vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot

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/e4/