Exam question 1 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes

In respect of an organisation's statement that a data loss was attributable to "human error", identify the meaning of the expression.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: data loss, you, organisation · What happens: be, identify, respect, state, mean · To what, where: statement, meaning, respect, expression

This is exam question 1 of lesson 33 «Soft words for hard things: 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	In	in	ADP	_	2 respect	case
2	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 identify	obl
3	of	of	ADP	_	7 statement	case
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 organisation	det
5	organisation	organisation	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 statement	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 organisation	case
7	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 respect	nmod
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	13 attributable	mark
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 loss	det
10	data	data	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 loss	compound
11	loss	loss	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 attributable	nsubj
12	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 attributable	cop
13	attributable	attributable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 statement	acl
14	to	to	PART	_	17 error	mark
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	17 error	punct
16	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 error	amod
17	error	error	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 attributable	obl
18	"	"	PUNCT	_	17 error	punct
19	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 respect	punct
20	identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 meaning	det
22	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 identify	obj
23	of	of	ADP	_	25 expression	case
24	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	25 expression	det
25	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 meaning	nmod
26	.	.	PUNCT	_	20 identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is	past	a data loss	a organisation's statement not said here		human error obl; attributable property	tree rules
2	identify	imperative	you not said here	the meaning of the expression	respect of a organisation's statement		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent meaning=Theme
3	respect			a organisation's statement			nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient
4	state		a organisation				nom statement «communication transitive»: poss=agent
5	mean			the expression			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

A mistake was committed by a person whose identity is not disclosed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 mistake	det
2	mistake	mistake	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 committed	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 committed	aux:pass
4	committed	commit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 person	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 person	det
7	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 committed	obl
8	whose	whose	PRON	Poss=Yes PronType=Rel	9 identity	nmod:poss
9	identity	identity	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 disclosed	nsubj:pass
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 disclosed	aux:pass
11	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	12 disclosed	advmod
12	disclosed	disclose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 person	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	commit	past · passive	a person	a mistake					vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	not disclose	present · passive		identity					vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic

Option 2

The fault originated exclusively within automated machinery

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 fault	det
2	fault	fault	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 originated	nsubj
3	originated	originate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 originated	advmod
5	within	within	ADP	_	7 machinery	case
6	automated	automated	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 machinery	amod
7	machinery	machinery	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 originated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	originate	past	the fault					within automated machinery; exclusively property	vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3

No mistake whatsoever was committed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	2 mistake	det
2	mistake	mistake	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 committed	nsubj
3	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	2 mistake	advmod
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 committed	cop
5	committed	committed	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	no mistake					committed property	tree rules

Option 4

The loss was occasioned by adverse weather

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 loss	det
2	loss	loss	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 occasioned	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 occasioned	aux:pass
4	occasioned	occasion	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 weather	case
6	adverse	adverse	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 weather	amod
7	weather	weather	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 occasioned	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occasion	past · passive	adverse weather	the loss					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/33-failure-and-mistakes/e1/