Test 7 · Soft words for hard things: drinking and drugs and religio…
Insurance letter: "We cannot pay for the damage, as the flood was an act of God." What does the company mean?
Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: We, flood, company · What happens: not pay, be, mean · To what, where: Insurance letter
This is test 7 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: Insurance letter: "We cannot pay for the damage, as the flood was an act of God."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Insurance | insurance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 letter | compound |
| 2 | letter | letter | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 8 pay | punct |
| 4 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 pay | punct |
| 5 | We | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 8 pay | nsubj |
| 6 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 8 pay | aux |
| 7 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 8 pay | advmod |
| 8 | pay | pay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 letter | acl:relcl |
| 9 | for | for | ADP | _ | 11 damage | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 damage | det |
| 11 | damage | damage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 pay | obl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 act | punct |
| 13 | as | as | ADP | _ | 18 act | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 flood | det |
| 15 | flood | flood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 act | nsubj |
| 16 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 act | cop |
| 17 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 18 act | det |
| 18 | act | act | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 pay | advcl |
| 19 | of | of | ADP | _ | 20 God | case |
| 20 | God | God | PROPN | Number=Sing | 18 act | nmod |
| 21 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 letter | punct |
| 22 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 2 letter | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not pay in a quote | can | We | Insurance letter not said here | for the damage | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent letter=Asset for damage=Theme | |||
| 2 | is in a quote | past | the flood | as a act; of God | 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 does the company mean?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 5 mean | obj |
| 2 | does | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 mean | aux |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 company | det |
| 4 | company | company | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 mean | nsubj |
| 5 | mean | mean | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 6 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 5 mean | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mean | present · do-support | the company | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
The options
Option 1
The flood was a miracle
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 flood | det |
| 2 | flood | flood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 miracle | nsubj |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 miracle | cop |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 miracle | det |
| 5 | miracle | miracle | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | the flood | a miracle | tree rules |
Option 2 · ← Mova's choice
God will pay for the damage instead of the company
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | God | God | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 pay | nsubj |
| 2 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 3 pay | aux |
| 3 | pay | pay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 4 | for | for | ADP | _ | 6 damage | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 damage | det |
| 6 | damage | damage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 pay | obl |
| 7 | instead | instead | ADV | ExtPos=ADP | 10 company | case |
| 8 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 instead | fixed |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 company | det |
| 10 | company | company | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 pay | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pay | future | God | for the damage; instead the company | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent for damage=Theme |
Option 3
A priest caused the flood
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 priest | det |
| 2 | priest | priest | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 caused | nsubj |
| 3 | caused | cause | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 flood | det |
| 5 | flood | flood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 caused | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | cause | past | a priest | the flood | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition flood=Patient |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
It was a natural disaster nobody is to blame for
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 | 5 disaster | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 disaster | cop |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 disaster | det |
| 4 | natural | natural | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 disaster | amod |
| 5 | disaster | disaster | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 6 | nobody | nobody | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 9 blame | nsubj |
| 7 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 blame | cop |
| 8 | to | to | PART | _ | 9 blame | mark |
| 9 | blame | blame | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 disaster | acl:relcl |
| 10 | for | for | ADP | _ | 9 blame | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | It | a natural disaster | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | is | present | nobody | blame property | tree rules |
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/t7/