Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: death and dying, illness and t…

Ascertain the meaning of the expression "pre-need arrangements" as employed in commercial funeral literature.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, employ, mean · To what, where: meaning, commercial funeral literature, expression

This is exam question 4 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	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	_	9 arrangements	punct
8	pre-need	pre-need	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 arrangements	compound
9	arrangements	arrangement	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 expression	appos
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 arrangements	punct
11	as	as	SCONJ	_	12 employed	mark
12	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Ascertain	advcl
13	in	in	ADP	_	16 literature	case
14	commercial	commercial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 literature	amod
15	funeral	funeral	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 literature	compound
16	literature	literature	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 employed	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	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	employ	participle	you not said here		commercial funeral literature	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
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

Arrangements for a medical procedure

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Arrangements	arrangement	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	for	for	ADP	_	5 procedure	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 procedure	det
4	medical	medical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 procedure	amod
5	procedure	procedure	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Arrangements	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2

Preparations made before a storm

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Preparations	preparation	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Preparations	acl
3	before	before	ADP	_	5 storm	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 storm	det
5	storm	storm	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 made	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	participle		Preparations not said here			before a storm		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Payment for one's own funeral in advance

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Payment	payment	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	for	for	ADP	_	6 funeral	case
3	one	one	PRON	Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 funeral	nmod:poss
4	's	's	PART	_	3 one	case
5	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 funeral	amod
6	funeral	funeral	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Payment	nmod
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 advance	case
8	advance	advance	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 funeral	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4

Provisions for the needs of children

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Provisions	provision	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	for	for	ADP	_	4 needs	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 needs	det
4	needs	need	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Provisions	nmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 children	case
6	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 needs	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	need			children					nom need «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.

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