Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: school reports and teachers an…

Whereas a pupil's report states that the pupil possesses "a vivid imagination", determine what may in fact be communicated.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: pupil · What happens: state, possess, determine, communicate, report · To what, where: vivid imagination, fact

This is exam question 4 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	Whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	5 report	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 pupil	det
3	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 report	nmod:poss
4	's	's	PART	_	3 pupil	case
5	report	report	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 states	obl
6	states	state	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	that	that	SCONJ	_	10 possesses	mark
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 pupil	det
9	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 possesses	nsubj
10	possesses	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 states	advcl
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 imagination	punct
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 imagination	det
13	vivid	vivid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 imagination	amod
14	imagination	imagination	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 possesses	obj
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 imagination	punct
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 determine	punct
17	determine	determine	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	6 states	parataxis
18	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	23 communicated	obj
19	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	23 communicated	aux
20	in	in	ADP	_	21 fact	case
21	fact	fact	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 communicated	obl
22	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	23 communicated	aux:pass
23	communicated	communicate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	17 determine	ccomp
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	6 states	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	state speech: other	present				whereas a pupil's report	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	possess	present	the pupil	a vivid imagination			vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot imagination=Theme
3	determine	infinitive					vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
4	communicate	may · passive			fact		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: what=Topic
5	report		a pupil				nom report «communication transitive»: poss=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

The pupil excels in visual art

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 pupil	det
2	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 excels	nsubj
3	excels	excel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 art	case
5	visual	visual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 art	amod
6	art	art	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 excels	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	excel	present	the pupil			visual art			vn succeed-74-1 «NP V PP.eventuality S_ING»: agent=Agent in art=Eventuality

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The pupil tells untruths or daydreams

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 pupil	det
2	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 tells	nsubj
3	tells	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	untruths	untruth	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 tells	obj
5	or	or	CCONJ	_	6 daydreams	cc
6	daydreams	daydream	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 untruths	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	present	the pupil	untruths or daydreams					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent untruth=Recipient

Option 3

The pupil has exceptional eyesight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 pupil	det
2	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 has	nsubj
3	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	exceptional	exceptional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 eyesight	amod
5	eyesight	eyesight	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 has	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	present	the pupil	exceptional eyesight					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eyesight=Patient

Option 4

The pupil excels in scientific enquiry

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 pupil	det
2	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 excels	nsubj
3	excels	excel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 enquiry	case
5	scientific	scientific	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 enquiry	amod
6	enquiry	enquiry	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 excels	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	excel	present	the pupil			scientific enquiry			vn succeed-74-1 «NP V PP.eventuality S_ING»: agent=Agent in enquiry=Eventuality

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/e4/