Exam question 3 · Soft words for hard things: death and dying, illness and t…

Select the response that most accurately characterises the expression "under the weather".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, most · What happens: select, characteris · To what, where: response, expression, weather

This is exam question 3 of lesson 3 «Soft words for hard things: death and dying, illness and the body» 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	SCONJ	_	7 characterises	mark
5	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	7 characterises	nsubj
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	5 most	advmod
7	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Select	advcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 expression	det
9	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 characterises	obj
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 expression	punct
11	under	under	ADP	_	13 weather	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 weather	det
13	weather	weather	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 characterises	obl
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 weather	punct
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	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	characteris	present	most	the expression		the weather			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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

An informal expression signifying mild illness

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 expression	det
2	informal	informal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 expression	amod
3	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	signifying	signify	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 expression	acl
5	mild	mild	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 illness	amod
6	illness	illness	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 signifying	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	gerund	a informal expression not said here	mild illness					vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot illness=Theme

Option 2

A formal term signifying a grave illness

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 term	det
2	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 term	amod
3	term	term	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	signifying	signify	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 term	acl
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 illness	det
6	grave	grave	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 illness	compound
7	illness	illness	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 signifying	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	gerund	a formal term not said here	a grave illness					vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot illness=Theme

Option 3

An expression signifying shelter from a storm

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 expression	det
2	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	signifying	signify	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 expression	acl
4	shelter	shelter	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 signifying	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 storm	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 storm	det
7	storm	storm	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 signifying	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	gerund	a expression not said here	shelter		a storm			vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot shelter=Theme

Option 4

A meteorological term signifying heavy rain

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 term	det
2	meteorological	meteorological	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 term	amod
3	term	term	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	signifying	signify	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 term	acl
5	heavy	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 rain	amod
6	rain	rain	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 signifying	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	gerund	a meteorological term not said here	heavy rain					vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot rain=Theme

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/3-death-and-feeling-poorly/e3/