Exam question 3 · Soft words for hard things: school reports and teachers an…

Select the response consistent with the established meaning of the statement that a domestic cat has been "fixed", as used in the United States.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, statement · What happens: select, establish, fix, use, mean · To what, where: response, domestic cat, United States, statement

This is exam question 3 of lesson 17 «Soft words for hard things: school reports and teachers and animals and pets» 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	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 response	amod
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 meaning	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 meaning	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 meaning	amod
8	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 consistent	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 statement	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 statement	det
11	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 meaning	nmod
12	that	that	SCONJ	_	19 fixed	mark
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 cat	det
14	domestic	domestic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 cat	amod
15	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 fixed	nsubj:pass
16	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	19 fixed	aux
17	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	19 fixed	aux:pass
18	"	"	PUNCT	_	19 fixed	punct
19	fixed	fix	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 statement	acl
20	"	"	PUNCT	_	19 fixed	punct
21	,	,	PUNCT	_	23 used	punct
22	as	as	SCONJ	_	23 used	mark
23	used	use	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	19 fixed	conj
24	in	in	ADP	_	27 States	case
25	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	27 States	det
26	United	United	ADJ	Degree=Pos	27 States	amod
27	States	State	PROPN	Number=Plur	23 used	obl
28	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	fix in a quote	present · perfect · passive	the statement not said here	a domestic cat		vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: subject=Patient
4	use	participle	the statement not said here		the United States	vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
5	mean			the statement		nom meaning «communication 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 cat has been repaired following injury

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cat	det
2	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 repaired	nsubj:pass
3	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 repaired	aux
4	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	5 repaired	aux:pass
5	repaired	repair	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 injury	amod
7	injury	injury	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 repaired	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	repair	present · perfect · passive		the cat					tree rules
2	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The cat has been neutered or spayed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cat	det
2	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 neutered	nsubj:pass
3	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 neutered	aux
4	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	5 neutered	aux:pass
5	neutered	neuter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	or	or	CCONJ	_	7 spayed	cc
7	spayed	spay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 neutered	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	neuter	present · perfect · passive		the cat					tree rules
2	spay	participle							tree rules

Option 3

The cat has been fitted with an identification tag

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cat	det
2	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 fitted	nsubj
3	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 fitted	aux
4	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	5 fitted	aux:pass
5	fitted	fit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	with	with	ADP	_	9 tag	case
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 tag	det
8	identification	identification	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 tag	compound
9	tag	tag	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 fitted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fit	present · perfect · passive		the cat				with a identification tag	vn adjust-26.9 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 4

The cat has been trained to remain stationary

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cat	det
2	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 trained	nsubj:pass
3	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 trained	aux
4	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	5 trained	aux:pass
5	trained	train	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	7 remain	mark
7	remain	remain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 trained	xcomp
8	stationary	stationary	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 remain	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	train	present · perfect · passive		the cat					vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme clause=Attribute
2	remain	to-infinitive	the cat not said here	stationary					vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme stationary=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/17-school-and-pets/e3/