Exam question 3 · Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness and rude…

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the expression "for Pete's sake".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: expression

This is exam question 3 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 consistent	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 consistent	obl:unmarked
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	ccomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 expression	det
11	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 expression	punct
13	for	for	ADP	_	16 sake	case
14	Pete	Pete	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 sake	nmod:poss
15	's	's	PART	_	14 Pete	case
16	sake	sake	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obl
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 consistent	punct
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here			vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the expression	for Pete's sake	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus expression=Experiencer

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

It refers to a particular saint named Peter

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	2 refers	nsubj
2	refers	refer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	6 saint	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 saint	det
5	particular	particular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 saint	amod
6	saint	saint	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 refers	obl
7	named	name	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 saint	acl
8	Peter	Peter	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 named	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	refer	present	It					to a particular saint	vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to saint=Co-Theme
2	name	participle		a particular saint not said here					vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

It is a formal expression of gratitude

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	5 expression	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 expression	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 expression	det
4	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 expression	amod
5	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 gratitude	case
7	gratitude	gratitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 expression	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a formal expression				of gratitude	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It is a mild substitute for "for God's sake"

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	5 substitute	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 substitute	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 substitute	det
4	mild	mild	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 substitute	amod
5	substitute	substitute	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	for	for	ADP	_	11 sake	case
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 sake	punct
8	for	for	ADP	_	11 sake	case
9	God	God	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 sake	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 God	case
11	sake	sake	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 substitute	nmod
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 substitute	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a mild substitute				for God's sake	tree rules

Option 4

It is the strongest of all English oaths

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	4 strongest	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 strongest	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 strongest	det
4	strongest	strong	ADJ	Degree=Sup	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 oaths	case
6	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 oaths	det
7	English	English	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 oaths	amod
8	oaths	oath	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 strongest	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					of all English oaths; strong 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/37-bats-and-gosh/e3/