Exam question 2 · Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin a…
It is given that an official describes a former statement as "inoperative". Select the response consistent with the established usage of the term.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: official, you · What happens: give, describe, select, establish, use · To what, where: It, former statement, response, term
This is exam question 2 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
Sentence 1: It is given that an official describes a former statement as "inoperative".
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 given | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | aux:pass |
| 3 | given | give | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 7 describes | mark |
| 5 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 official | det |
| 6 | official | official | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 describes | nsubj |
| 7 | describes | describe | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | advcl |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 10 statement | det |
| 9 | former | former | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 statement | amod |
| 10 | statement | statement | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 describes | obj |
| 11 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 13 inoperative | mark |
| 12 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 13 inoperative | punct |
| 13 | inoperative | inoperative | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 statement | acl |
| 14 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 13 inoperative | punct |
| 15 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 given | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | give | present · passive | It | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 2 | describe | present | a official | a former statement | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent statement=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: Select the response consistent with the established usage of the term.
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 usage | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 usage | det |
| 7 | established | establish | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 usage | amod |
| 8 | usage | usage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 consistent | obl |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 11 term | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 term | det |
| 11 | term | term | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 usage | nmod |
| 12 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Select | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | 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 | use | the term | nom usage «act transitive»: of=patient |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
The former statement was translated
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 statement | det |
| 2 | former | former | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 statement | amod |
| 3 | statement | statement | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 translated | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 translated | aux:pass |
| 5 | translated | translate | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | translate | past · passive | the former statement | vn turn-26.6.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
Option 2
The former statement was inaudible
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 statement | det |
| 2 | former | former | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 statement | amod |
| 3 | statement | statement | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 inaudible | nsubj |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 inaudible | cop |
| 5 | inaudible | inaudible | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the former statement | inaudible property | tree rules |
Option 3
The former statement was abbreviated
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 statement | det |
| 2 | former | former | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 statement | amod |
| 3 | statement | statement | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 abbreviated | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 abbreviated | aux:pass |
| 5 | abbreviated | abbreviate | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | abbreviate | past · passive | the former statement | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
The former statement was untrue
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 statement | det |
| 2 | former | former | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 statement | amod |
| 3 | statement | statement | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 untrue | nsubj |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 untrue | cop |
| 5 | untrue | untrue | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the former statement | untrue property | tree rules |
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/25-spin-war-and-violence/e2/