Test 11 · Soft words for hard things: religion and fate and failure…
Two friends: "Do you go to church?" — "Nah, I'm a lapsed Methodist." What does the second friend mean?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, I, second friend · What happens: go, lapse, be, mean · To what, where: church, lapsed Methodist
This is test 11 of lesson 32 «Soft words for hard things: religion and fate and failure and mistakes» 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: Two friends: "Do you go to church?" — "Nah, I'm a lapsed Methodist."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 2 friends | nummod |
| 2 | friends | friend | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
| 3 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 7 go | punct |
| 4 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 go | punct |
| 5 | Do | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 go | aux |
| 6 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 7 go | nsubj |
| 7 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 friends | parataxis |
| 8 | to | to | ADP | _ | 9 church | case |
| 9 | church | church | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 go | obl |
| 10 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 7 go | punct |
| 11 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 go | punct |
| 12 | — | - | PUNCT | _ | 20 Methodist | punct |
| 13 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 20 Methodist | punct |
| 14 | Nah | nah | INTJ | _ | 20 Methodist | discourse |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 Nah | punct |
| 16 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 20 Methodist | nsubj |
| 17 | 'm | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 20 Methodist | cop |
| 18 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 Methodist | det |
| 19 | lapsed | lapse | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 20 Methodist | amod |
| 20 | Methodist | Methodist | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 go | obl |
| 21 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 go | punct |
| 22 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 go | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go in a quote | present · do-support | you | church | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to church=Initial_Location | ||||
| 2 | lapse in a quote | participle | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 3 | is a in a quote | present | I | a lapsed Methodist | 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 second friend mean?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 6 mean | obj |
| 2 | does | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 mean | aux |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 friend | det |
| 4 | second | second | ADJ | Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 5 friend | amod |
| 5 | friend | friend | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 mean | nsubj |
| 6 | mean | mean | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 7 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 6 mean | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mean | present · do-support | the second friend | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
They no longer practise their religion
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 practise | nsubj |
| 2 | no | no | ADV | _ | 3 longer | advmod |
| 3 | longer | long | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 4 practise | advmod |
| 4 | practise | practise | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 religion | nmod:poss |
| 6 | religion | religion | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 practise | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | practise | infinitive | They | their religion | long property | tree rules |
Option 2
They lead the church choir every single Sunday
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 lead | nsubj |
| 2 | lead | lead | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 choir | det |
| 4 | church | church | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 choir | compound |
| 5 | choir | choir | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 lead | obj |
| 6 | every | every | DET | PronType=Tot | 8 Sunday | det |
| 7 | single | single | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 Sunday | amod |
| 8 | Sunday | Sunday | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 lead | obl:unmarked |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | lead | present | They | the church choir | sunday | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent choir=Theme |
Option 3
They are a new Methodist
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 Methodist | nsubj |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 Methodist | cop |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 Methodist | det |
| 4 | new | new | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 Methodist | amod |
| 5 | Methodist | Methodist | PROPN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | They | a new Methodist | tree rules |
Option 4
They are late for church
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 late | nsubj |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 late | cop |
| 3 | late | late | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | for | for | ADP | _ | 5 church | case |
| 5 | church | church | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 late | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | They | for church; late 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/32-religion-fate-failure/t11/