Exam question 1 · Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the phrase "detained at His Majesty's pleasure"?
Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: Majesty · What happens: follow, characteris, detain, please · To what, where: phrase, pleasure
This is exam question 1 of lesson 27 «Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police» 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 | 8 characterises | obl |
| 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 phrase | det |
| 10 | phrase | phrase | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 characterises | obj |
| 11 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 10 phrase | punct |
| 12 | detained | detain | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 10 phrase | acl |
| 13 | at | at | ADP | _ | 17 pleasure | case |
| 14 | His | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 Majesty | nmod:poss |
| 15 | Majesty | Majesty | PROPN | Number=Sing | 17 pleasure | nmod:poss |
| 16 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 15 Majesty | case |
| 17 | pleasure | pleasure | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 detained | obl |
| 18 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 17 pleasure | punct |
| 19 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 8 characterises | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | follow | gerund | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 2 | characteris | present | the phrase | of the following statements; accurately property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | detain in a quote | participle | the phrase not said here | His Majesty's pleasure | vn confine-92 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | please in a quote | His Majesty | nom pleasure «feeling 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
Retained in the employment of the Crown
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Retained | retain | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 2 | in | in | ADP | _ | 4 employment | case |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 employment | det |
| 4 | employment | employment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Retained | obl |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 Crown | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 Crown | det |
| 7 | Crown | Crown | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 employment | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | retain | participle | the employment of the Crown | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | employ | the Crown | nom employment «state transitive»: of=patient |
Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
Held in prison for a period not fixed in advance
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Held | hold | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 2 | in | in | ADP | _ | 3 prison | case |
| 3 | prison | prison | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Held | obl |
| 4 | for | for | ADP | _ | 6 period | case |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 period | det |
| 6 | period | period | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Held | obl |
| 7 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 8 fixed | advmod |
| 8 | fixed | fix | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 6 period | acl |
| 9 | in | in | ADP | _ | 10 advance | case |
| 10 | advance | advance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 fixed | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hold | participle | prison | for a period | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in prison=Location | ||||
| 2 | not fix | participle | a period not said here | advance | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
Option 3
Received as a guest at a royal residence
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Received | receive | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 2 | as | as | ADP | _ | 4 guest | case |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 guest | det |
| 4 | guest | guest | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Received | obl |
| 5 | at | at | ADP | _ | 8 residence | case |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 residence | det |
| 7 | royal | royal | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 residence | amod |
| 8 | residence | residence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Received | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | receive | participle | a royal residence | as a guest | vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent at residence=Location |
Option 4
Kept late at school by royal command
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kept | keep | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 2 | late | late | ADV | Degree=Pos | 1 Kept | advmod |
| 3 | at | at | ADP | _ | 4 school | case |
| 4 | school | school | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Kept | obl |
| 5 | by | by | ADP | _ | 7 command | case |
| 6 | royal | royal | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 command | amod |
| 7 | command | command | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Kept | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | keep | participle | school | by royal command; late property | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent at school=Location |
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/27-crime-prison-and-police/e1/