Exam question 1 · Soft words for hard things: lying and honesty and drinking…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the expression "shading the truth"?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: expression · What happens: follow, characteris, shade · To what, where: expression, truth

This is exam question 1 of lesson 29 «Soft words for hard things: lying and honesty and drinking and drugs» 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 expression	det
10	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 shading	punct
12	shading	shade	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 expression	acl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 truth	det
14	truth	truth	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 shading	obj
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 shading	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		the expression	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	shade in a quote	gerund	the expression not said here	the truth		vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent truth=Beneficiary

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 denotes truthful speech in darkness

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	2 denotes	nsubj
2	denotes	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	truthful	truthful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 speech	amod
4	speech	speech	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denotes	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 darkness	case
6	darkness	darkness	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denotes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	present	It	truthful speech				in darkness	vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot speech=Theme in darkness=Attribute

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It denotes lying to a slight degree

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	2 denotes	nsubj
2	denotes	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	lying	lie	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 denotes	xcomp
4	to	to	ADP	_	7 degree	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 degree	det
6	slight	slight	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 degree	amod
7	degree	degree	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 lying	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	present	It						vn indicate-78 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot clause=Topic
2	lie	gerund						to a slight degree	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

It denotes a drawing executed with shadows

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	2 denotes	nsubj
2	denotes	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 drawing	det
4	drawing	drawing	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denotes	obj
5	executed	execute	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 drawing	acl
6	with	with	ADP	_	7 shadows	case
7	shadows	shadow	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 executed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	present	It	a drawing					vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot drawing=Topic
2	execute	participle		a drawing not said here				with shadows	vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with shadow=Instrument

Option 4

It denotes the concealment of the sun

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	2 denotes	nsubj
2	denotes	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 concealment	det
4	concealment	concealment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denotes	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 sun	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sun	det
7	sun	sun	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 concealment	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	present	It	the concealment of the sun					vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot concealment=Topic
2	conceal			the sun					nom concealment «state transitive»: of=patient

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/29-lying-and-drinking/e1/