Exam question 2 · Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness and rude…

Ascertain the meaning most accurately conveyed by the statement that an individual is "not the sharpest knife in the drawer".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, individual · What happens: ascertain, convey, not be · To what, where: meaning, sharpest knife, drawer

This is exam question 2 of lesson 37 «Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness and rudeness and swearing» 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	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	5 accurately	advmod
5	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	6 conveyed	advmod
6	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 meaning	acl
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 statement	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 statement	det
9	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 conveyed	obl
10	that	that	SCONJ	_	18 knife	mark
11	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 individual	det
12	individual	individual	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 knife	nsubj
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	18 knife	cop
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	18 knife	punct
15	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	18 knife	advmod
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 knife	det
17	sharpest	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Sup	18 knife	amod
18	knife	knife	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 statement	nmod
19	in	in	ADP	_	21 drawer	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 drawer	det
21	drawer	drawer	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 knife	nmod
22	"	"	PUNCT	_	18 knife	punct
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the meaning			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic
2	convey	participle		the meaning not said here		by the statement; accurately property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	not is a in a quote	present	a individual	the sharpest knife	the drawer		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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

The individual is of an untidy habit

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 individual	det
2	individual	individual	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 habit	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 habit	cop
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 habit	case
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 habit	det
6	untidy	untidy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 habit	amod
7	habit	habit	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the individual					of a untidy habit	tree rules

Option 2

The individual is lacking in culinary skill

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 individual	det
2	individual	individual	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lacking	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 lacking	aux
4	lacking	lack	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 skill	case
6	culinary	culinary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 skill	amod
7	skill	skill	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lacking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lack	present · progressive	the individual			culinary skill			tree rules

Option 3

The individual is of a hostile disposition

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 individual	det
2	individual	individual	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 disposition	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 disposition	cop
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 disposition	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 disposition	det
6	hostile	hostile	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 disposition	amod
7	disposition	disposition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the individual					of a hostile disposition	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The individual is of limited intelligence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 individual	det
2	individual	individual	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 intelligence	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 intelligence	cop
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 intelligence	case
5	limited	limited	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 intelligence	amod
6	intelligence	intelligence	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the individual					of limited intelligence	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/37-bats-and-gosh/e2/