Test 8 · Soft words for hard things: religion and fate and failure…
The teams were picked by names from a hat. "Bad team? That's the luck of the draw, mate." What is meant?
Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: names, That · What happens: pick, be, mean · To what, where: teams, luck
This is test 8 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: The teams were picked by names from a hat. "
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 teams | det |
| 2 | teams | team | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 picked | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 picked | aux:pass |
| 4 | picked | pick | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | by | by | ADP | _ | 6 names | case |
| 6 | names | name | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 picked | obl |
| 7 | from | from | ADP | _ | 9 hat | case |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 hat | det |
| 9 | hat | hat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 names | nmod |
| 10 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 picked | punct |
| 11 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 picked | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pick | past · passive | names from a hat | the teams | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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.
Sentence 2: Bad team?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bad | bad | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 team | amod |
| 2 | team | team | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 2 team | punct |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Sentence 3: That's the luck of the draw, mate."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | That | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 4 luck | nsubj |
| 2 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 luck | cop |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 luck | det |
| 4 | luck | luck | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 draw | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 draw | det |
| 7 | draw | draw | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 luck | nmod |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 mate | punct |
| 9 | mate | mate | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 luck | conj |
| 10 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 luck | punct |
| 11 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 luck | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | That | the luck and mate | of the draw | tree rules |
Sentence 4: What is meant?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 3 meant | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 meant | aux:pass |
| 3 | meant | mean | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 3 meant | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mean | present · passive | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
The options
Option 1
You should have cheated
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | You | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 4 cheated | nsubj |
| 2 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 cheated | aux |
| 3 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 4 cheated | aux |
| 4 | cheated | cheat | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | cheat | should · perfect | You | vn cheat-10.6.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
It was chance, not anyone's fault
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 | 3 chance | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 chance | cop |
| 3 | chance | chance | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 fault | punct |
| 5 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 8 fault | advmod |
| 6 | anyone | anyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 8 fault | nmod:poss |
| 7 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 6 anyone | case |
| 8 | fault | fault | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 chance | conj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | It | chance and anyone's fault | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | fault | anyone | nom fault «act transitive»: poss=agent |
Option 3
You drew the worst picture
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | You | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 2 drew | nsubj |
| 2 | drew | draw | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 picture | det |
| 4 | worst | bad | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 5 picture | amod |
| 5 | picture | picture | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 drew | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | draw | past | You | the worst picture | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent picture=Theme |
Option 4
The captain chose you on purpose
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 captain | det |
| 2 | captain | captain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 chose | nsubj |
| 3 | chose | choose | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 3 chose | obj |
| 5 | on | on | ADP | _ | 6 purpose | case |
| 6 | purpose | purpose | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 chose | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | choose | past | the captain | you | purpose | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Theme |
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/t8/