Exam question 2 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes

Ascertain the meaning of the expression "a damp squib" as employed in respect of a public event in the United Kingdom.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, employ, mean, respect · To what, where: meaning, respect, expression, public event

This is exam question 2 of lesson 34 «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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 meaning	det
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 expression	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 expression	det
6	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 meaning	nmod
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 squib	punct
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 squib	det
9	damp	damp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 squib	amod
10	squib	squib	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 expression	appos
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 squib	punct
12	as	as	SCONJ	_	13 employed	mark
13	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Ascertain	advcl
14	in	in	ADP	_	15 respect	case
15	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 employed	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	19 event	case
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 event	det
18	public	public	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 event	amod
19	event	event	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 respect	nmod
20	in	in	ADP	_	23 Kingdom	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 Kingdom	det
22	United	United	PROPN	_	23 Kingdom	flat
23	Kingdom	Kingdom	PROPN	Number=Sing	19 event	nmod
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the meaning of the expression		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic
2	employ	participle	you not said here		respect of a public event in the United Kingdom	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	mean			the expression		nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient
4	respect			a public event in the United Kingdom		nom respect «cognition 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

An event curtailed by inclement weather that nonetheless succeeded

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 event	det
2	event	event	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	curtailed	curtail	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 event	acl
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 weather	case
5	inclement	inclement	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 weather	compound
6	weather	weather	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 curtailed	obl
7	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 succeeded	obj
8	nonetheless	nonetheless	ADV	_	9 succeeded	advmod
9	succeeded	succeed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 weather	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	curtail	participle		a event not said here				by inclement weather	tree rules
2	succeed	past		inclement weather				nonetheless property	tree rules

Option 2

An exhibition of marine fauna

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 exhibition	det
2	exhibition	exhibition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 fauna	case
4	marine	marine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 fauna	amod
5	fauna	fauna	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 exhibition	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exhibit			marine fauna					nom exhibition «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

An event of exceptional brilliance

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 event	det
2	event	event	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 brilliance	case
4	exceptional	exceptional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 brilliance	amod
5	brilliance	brilliance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 event	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

A disappointing failure

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 failure	det
2	disappointing	disappointing	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 failure	amod
3	failure	failure	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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/34-failure-and-mistakes/e2/