Test 11 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police a…
"He's being a bit creative with the truth about why he was late." What does it mean?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: He, truth · What happens: be, mean
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 28 «Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police and lying and honesty» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school. 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: "He's being a bit creative with the truth about why he was late."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 creative | punct |
| 2 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 creative | nsubj |
| 3 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 creative | cop |
| 4 | being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 7 creative | cop |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 bit | det |
| 6 | bit | bit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 creative | obl:unmarked |
| 7 | creative | creative | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 8 | with | with | ADP | _ | 10 truth | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 truth | det |
| 10 | truth | truth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 creative | obl |
| 11 | about | about | SCONJ | _ | 15 late | mark |
| 12 | why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 15 late | advmod |
| 13 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 late | nsubj |
| 14 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 late | cop |
| 15 | late | late | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 truth | acl |
| 16 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 creative | punct |
| 17 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 creative | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is in a quote | present | He | with the truth; a bit obl:unmarked; creative property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | is in a quote | past | he | late property | tree rules |
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: What does it mean?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 4 mean | obj |
| 2 | does | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 mean | aux |
| 3 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 mean | nsubj |
| 4 | mean | mean | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 4 mean | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mean | present · do-support | truth | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
He drew a picture of his excuse
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 drew | nsubj |
| 2 | drew | draw | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 picture | det |
| 4 | picture | picture | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 drew | obj |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 excuse | case |
| 6 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 7 excuse | nmod:poss |
| 7 | excuse | excuse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 picture | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | draw | past | He | a picture of his excuse | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent picture=Theme | ||||
| 2 | excuse | his = he | nom excuse «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
Option 2
He has a clever true excuse
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 has | nsubj |
| 2 | has | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 excuse | det |
| 4 | clever | clever | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 excuse | amod |
| 5 | true | true | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 excuse | amod |
| 6 | excuse | excuse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 has | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | have | present | He | a clever true excuse | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent excuse=Patient |
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
He is lying about why he was late
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 lying | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 lying | aux |
| 3 | lying | lie | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 4 | about | about | SCONJ | _ | 8 late | mark |
| 5 | why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 8 late | advmod |
| 6 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 late | nsubj |
| 7 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 late | cop |
| 8 | late | late | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 lying | advcl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | lie | present · progressive | He | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | is | past | he | late property | tree rules |
Option 4
He was late because he was painting
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 late | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 late | cop |
| 3 | late | late | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | because | because | SCONJ | _ | 7 painting | mark |
| 5 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 painting | nsubj |
| 6 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 painting | aux |
| 7 | painting | paint | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 3 late | advcl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | He | late property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | paint | past · progressive | he | vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V»: 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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/28-stealing-and-lying/t11/