Exam question 1 · Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin a…

Identify the principal meaning of the term "friendly fire" as employed in military reports.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, employ, mean · To what, where: principal meaning, military reports, term

This is exam question 1 of lesson 25 «Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin and war, the military and violence» 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	4 meaning	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 meaning	amod
4	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 term	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 term	det
7	term	term	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 meaning	nmod
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 fire	punct
9	friendly	friendly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 fire	amod
10	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 term	appos
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 fire	punct
12	as	as	SCONJ	_	13 employed	mark
13	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Identify	advcl
14	in	in	ADP	_	16 reports	case
15	military	military	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 reports	amod
16	reports	report	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 employed	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal meaning of the term		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent meaning=Theme
2	employ	participle	you not said here		military reports	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	mean			the term		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

A ceremonial salute by an ally

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 salute	det
2	ceremonial	ceremonial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 salute	amod
3	salute	salute	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 ally	case
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 ally	det
6	ally	ally	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 salute	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	salute		a ally						nom salute «communication transitive»: by=agent

Option 2

A fire lit for warmth by allied troops

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 fire	det
2	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	lit	lit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 fire	acl
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 warmth	case
5	warmth	warmth	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 lit	obl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 troops	case
7	allied	ally	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 troops	amod
8	troops	troops	NOUN	Number=Ptan	3 lit	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lit	participle		a fire not said here				for warmth; by allied troops	tree rules
2	ally	participle							vn conspire-71 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

An attack inflicted upon one's own forces in error

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 attack	det
2	attack	attack	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	inflicted	inflict	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 attack	acl
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 forces	case
5	one	one	PRON	Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 forces	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 one	case
7	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 forces	amod
8	forces	force	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 inflicted	obl
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 error	case
10	error	error	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 forces	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inflict	participle		a attack not said here				upon one's own forces in error	tree rules

Option 4

Shots discharged solely as a warning

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Shots	shot	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	discharged	discharge	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Shots	acl
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 discharged	advmod
4	as	as	ADP	_	6 warning	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 warning	det
6	warning	warning	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 discharged	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discharge	participle		Shots not said here				as a warning; solely property	vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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.

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