Exam question 3 · Soft words for hard things: war, the military and violence

Select the response that is consistent with the established meaning of a "pre-emptive strike".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, response · What happens: select, be, establish, mean · To what, where: response, pre-emptive strike

This is exam question 3 of lesson 26 «Soft words for hard things: 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	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	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 consistent	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 consistent	cop
6	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 response	acl:relcl
7	with	with	ADP	_	10 meaning	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 meaning	det
9	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 meaning	amod
10	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 consistent	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	15 strike	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 strike	det
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 strike	punct
14	pre-emptive	pre-emptive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 strike	amod
15	strike	strike	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 meaning	nmod
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 strike	punct
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	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	is	present	the response		with the established meaning of a pre-emptive strike; consistent property	tree rules
3	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
4	mean			a pre-emptive strike		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 right answer

An attack launched before the adversary has attacked

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	8 attacked	nsubj:pass
3	launched	launch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 attack	acl
4	before	before	ADP	_	6 adversary	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 adversary	det
6	adversary	adversary	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 launched	obl
7	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 attacked	aux
8	attacked	attack	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	launch	participle		a attack not said here		the adversary			vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent before adversary=Destination
2	attack	present · perfect · passive		a attack					vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 2

A cessation of labour prior to payment

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 cessation	det
2	cessation	cessation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 labour	case
4	labour	labour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cessation	nmod
5	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	7 payment	case
6	to	to	ADP	_	5 prior	fixed
7	payment	payment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cessation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cease			labour				prior payment	nom cessation «event transitive»: of=patient prior=obl

Option 3

A warning shot discharged into the air

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 shot	det
2	warning	warning	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 shot	compound
3	shot	shot	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	discharged	discharge	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 shot	acl
5	into	into	ADP	_	7 air	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 air	det
7	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 discharged	obl

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

Option 4

A retaliation subsequent to an attack by the adversary

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 subsequent	det
2	retaliation	retaliation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 subsequent	compound
3	subsequent	subsequent	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 attack	case
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 attack	det
6	attack	attack	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 subsequent	nmod
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 adversary	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 adversary	det
9	adversary	adversary	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 subsequent	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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/26-war-and-the-military/e3/