Exam question 3 · Soft words for hard things: relations and family and child…
It is stated that a child has been described as "spirited". Ascertain the quality thereby most probably intended.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: state, describe, ascertain, intend · To what, where: It, child, quality
This is exam question 3 of lesson 14 «Soft words for hard things: relations and family and children's behaviour» 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 stated that a child has been described as "spirited".
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 stated | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 stated | aux:pass |
| 3 | stated | state | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 9 described | mark |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 child | det |
| 6 | child | child | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 described | nsubj:pass |
| 7 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 described | aux |
| 8 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 9 described | aux:pass |
| 9 | described | describe | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 stated | advcl |
| 10 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 12 spirited | mark |
| 11 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 spirited | punct |
| 12 | spirited | spirited | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 described | xcomp |
| 13 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 spirited | punct |
| 14 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 stated | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | state speech: other | present · passive | It | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic | |||||
| 2 | describe | present · perfect · passive | a child | spirited property | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=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 quality thereby most probably intended.
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 | 3 quality | det |
| 3 | quality | quality | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Ascertain | obj |
| 4 | thereby | thereby | ADV | _ | 1 Ascertain | advmod |
| 5 | most | most | ADV | Degree=Sup | 6 probably | advmod |
| 6 | probably | probably | ADV | _ | 7 intended | advmod |
| 7 | intended | intend | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 1 Ascertain | advcl |
| 8 | . | . | 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 quality | thereby property | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent quality=Topic | |||
| 2 | intend | participle | you not said here | probably property | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
A belief in supernatural beings
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 belief | det |
| 2 | belief | belief | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | in | in | ADP | _ | 5 beings | case |
| 4 | supernatural | supernatural | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 beings | amod |
| 5 | beings | being | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 belief | nmod |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 2
Constant cheerfulness and calm
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Constant | constant | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 cheerfulness | amod |
| 2 | cheerfulness | cheerfulness | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 4 calm | cc |
| 4 | calm | calm | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 cheerfulness | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
Wilfulness and difficulty of management
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wilfulness | wilfulness | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 2 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 3 difficulty | cc |
| 3 | difficulty | difficulty | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Wilfulness | conj |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 management | case |
| 5 | management | management | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 difficulty | nmod |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4
An unusual fondness for beverages
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | An | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 fondness | det |
| 2 | unusual | unusual | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 fondness | amod |
| 3 | fondness | fondness | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | for | for | ADP | _ | 5 beverages | case |
| 5 | beverages | beverage | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 fondness | 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/14-family-and-behaviour/e3/