Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: lying and honesty and drinking…

Ascertain the meaning of the expression "to spin a yarn".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, spin, mean · To what, where: meaning, yarn, expression

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 meaning	det
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 expression	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 expression	det
6	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 meaning	nmod
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 expression	punct
8	to	to	PART	_	9 spin	mark
9	spin	spin	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Ascertain	advcl
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 yarn	det
11	yarn	yarn	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 spin	obj
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 yarn	punct
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the meaning of the expression	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic
2	spin in a quote	to-infinitive	you not said here	a yarn	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent yarn=Theme
3	mean			the expression	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

To tie a lengthy knot

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 tie	mark
2	tie	tie	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 knot	det
4	lengthy	lengthy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 knot	amod
5	knot	knot	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 tie	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tie	to-infinitive		a lengthy knot					vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knot=Patient

Option 2

To play with string

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 play	mark
2	play	play	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	with	with	ADP	_	4 string	case
4	string	string	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 play	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	play	to-infinitive						with string	vn play-114.2-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with string=Theme

Option 3

To manufacture woollen thread

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 manufacture	mark
2	manufacture	manufacture	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	woollen	woollen	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 thread	amod
4	thread	thread	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 manufacture	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	manufacture	to-infinitive		woollen thread					vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thread=Result

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

To relate an invented story

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 relate	mark
2	relate	relate	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 story	det
4	invented	invent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 story	amod
5	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 relate	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	relate	to-infinitive		a invented story					vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent story=Theme
2	invent	participle							vn create-26.4-1 «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/29-lying-and-drinking/e4/