Exam question 3 · Soft words for hard things: religion and fate and failure…
Whereas a speaker remarks that a misfortune "was a blessing in disguise", identify the principal meaning of the remark.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: speaker, misfortune, you · What happens: remark, be, identify, mean · To what, where: blessing, disguise, principal meaning, remark · Speech: someone speaks here
This is exam question 3 of lesson 32 «Soft words for hard things: religion and fate and failure and mistakes» 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 | Whereas | whereas | SCONJ | _ | 4 remarks | mark |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 speaker | det |
| 3 | speaker | speaker | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 remarks | nsubj |
| 4 | remarks | remark | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 16 identify | advcl |
| 5 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 11 blessing | mark |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 misfortune | det |
| 7 | misfortune | misfortune | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 blessing | nsubj |
| 8 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 misfortune | punct |
| 9 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 blessing | cop |
| 10 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 blessing | det |
| 11 | blessing | blessing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 remarks | ccomp |
| 12 | in | in | ADP | _ | 13 disguise | case |
| 13 | disguise | disguise | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 blessing | nmod |
| 14 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 blessing | punct |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 remarks | punct |
| 16 | identify | identify | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 meaning | det |
| 18 | principal | principal | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 19 meaning | amod |
| 19 | meaning | meaning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 identify | obj |
| 20 | of | of | ADP | _ | 22 remark | case |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 remark | det |
| 22 | remark | remark | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 meaning | nmod |
| 23 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 16 identify | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | remark speech: assert | present | a speaker | vn lecture-37.11-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | is a in a quote | past | a misfortune | a blessing | disguise | tree rules | |||
| 3 | identify | imperative | you not said here | the principal meaning of the remark | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent meaning=Theme | ||||
| 4 | mean | the remark | 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 · ✓ the right answer
An apparently adverse event subsequently proved advantageous
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | An | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 event | det |
| 2 | apparently | apparently | ADV | _ | 3 adverse | advmod |
| 3 | adverse | adverse | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 event | amod |
| 4 | event | event | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 proved | nsubj |
| 5 | subsequently | subsequently | ADV | _ | 6 proved | advmod |
| 6 | proved | prove | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | advantageous | advantageous | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 proved | xcomp |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | prove | past | a adverse event | advantageous, subsequently property | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent |
Option 2
The event constituted a grave moral transgression
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 event | det |
| 2 | event | event | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | constituted | constitute | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 event | acl |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 transgression | det |
| 5 | grave | grave | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 transgression | amod |
| 6 | moral | moral | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 transgression | amod |
| 7 | transgression | transgression | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 constituted | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | constitute | participle | the event not said here | a grave moral transgression | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme transgression=Pivot |
Option 3
The event was sanctified by a member of the clergy
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 event | det |
| 2 | event | event | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 sanctified | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 sanctified | aux:pass |
| 4 | sanctified | sanctify | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | by | by | ADP | _ | 7 member | case |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 member | det |
| 7 | member | member | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 sanctified | obl:agent |
| 8 | of | of | ADP | _ | 10 clergy | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 clergy | det |
| 10 | clergy | clergy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 member | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | sanctify | past · passive | a member of the clergy | the event | tree rules |
Option 4
The event was concealed from the speaker's family
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 event | det |
| 2 | event | event | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 concealed | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 concealed | aux:pass |
| 4 | concealed | conceal | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | from | from | ADP | _ | 9 family | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 speaker | det |
| 7 | speaker | speaker | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 family | nmod:poss |
| 8 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 7 speaker | case |
| 9 | family | family | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 concealed | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | conceal | past · passive | the event | the speaker's family | vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Patient from family=Beneficiary |
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/32-religion-fate-failure/e3/