Test 5 · Soft words for hard things: drinking and drugs and religio…
A press release: "The actor cancelled the tour due to exhaustion." What might a careful reader suspect?
Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: press release · What happens: cancel · To what, where: tour
This is test 5 of lesson 31 «Soft words for hard things: drinking and drugs and religion and fate» 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: A press release: "The actor cancelled the tour due to exhaustion."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 release | det |
| 2 | press | press | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 release | compound |
| 3 | release | release | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 cancelled | nsubj:outer |
| 4 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 8 cancelled | punct |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 cancelled | punct |
| 6 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 actor | det |
| 7 | actor | actor | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 cancelled | nsubj |
| 8 | cancelled | cancel | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 tour | det |
| 10 | tour | tour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 cancelled | obj |
| 11 | due | due | ADJ | Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP | 13 exhaustion | case |
| 12 | to | to | ADP | _ | 11 due | fixed |
| 13 | exhaustion | exhaustion | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 cancelled | obl |
| 14 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 cancelled | punct |
| 15 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 cancelled | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | cancel in a quote | past | a press release | the tour | due exhaustion | 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 might a careful reader suspect?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | root | root |
| 2 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 1 What | aux |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 suspect | det |
| 4 | careful | careful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 suspect | amod |
| 5 | reader | reader | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 suspect | compound |
| 6 | suspect | suspect | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 What | nsubj |
| 7 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 1 What | punct |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
The options
Option 1
The weather was too hot
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 weather | det |
| 2 | weather | weather | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 hot | nsubj |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 hot | cop |
| 4 | too | too | ADV | _ | 5 hot | advmod |
| 5 | hot | hot | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the weather | hot property | tree rules |
Option 2
He wanted a longer holiday
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 wanted | nsubj |
| 2 | wanted | want | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 holiday | det |
| 4 | longer | long | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 5 holiday | amod |
| 5 | holiday | holiday | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 wanted | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | want | past | He | a longer holiday | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot holiday=Theme |
Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
Trouble with drink or drugs
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trouble | trouble | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 2 | with | with | ADP | _ | 3 drink | case |
| 3 | drink | drink | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Trouble | nmod |
| 4 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 5 drugs | cc |
| 5 | drugs | drug | NOUN | Number=Plur | 1 Trouble | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4
The tickets did not sell
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 tickets | det |
| 2 | tickets | ticket | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 sell | nsubj |
| 3 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 sell | aux |
| 4 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 5 sell | advmod |
| 5 | sell | sell | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not sell | past · do-support | the tickets | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: 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/31-drinking-drugs-religion-fate/t5/