Exam question 3 · Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin a…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the practice termed "enhanced interrogation"?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: practice · What happens: follow, characteris, term, enhance · To what, where: interrogation

This is exam question 3 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Which	nmod
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 practice	det
10	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 termed	nsubj
11	termed	term	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 characterises	ccomp
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 enhanced	punct
13	enhanced	enhance	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 termed	conj
14	interrogation	interrogation	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 enhanced	obj
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 termed	punct
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present			accurately property	tree rules
3	term	past	the practice			vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	enhance in a quote	past	the practice not said here	interrogation		vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent interrogation=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

It is a test administered by machine

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	4 test	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 test	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 test	det
4	test	test	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	administered	administer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 test	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 machine	case
7	machine	machine	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 administered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a test					tree rules
2	administer	participle		a test not said here				by machine	vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

It is a lawful examination before a court

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	5 examination	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 examination	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 examination	det
4	lawful	lawful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 examination	amod
5	examination	examination	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	before	before	ADP	_	8 court	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 court	det
8	court	court	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 examination	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a lawful examination			before a court		tree rules

Option 3

It is a lengthier interview conducted with courtesy

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	5 interview	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 interview	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 interview	det
4	lengthier	lengthy	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 interview	amod
5	interview	interview	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	conducted	conduct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 interview	acl
7	with	with	ADP	_	8 courtesy	case
8	courtesy	courtesy	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 conducted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a lengthier interview					tree rules
2	conduct	participle		a lengthier interview not said here				with courtesy	vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It is a euphemism for torture

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	4 euphemism	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 euphemism	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 euphemism	det
4	euphemism	euphemism	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 torture	case
6	torture	torture	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 euphemism	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a euphemism				for torture	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/e3/