Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness and rude…
Where it is stated that a person "has lost the plot", determine the condition so described.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: state, lose, determine, describe · To what, where: it, person, condition · Speech: someone speaks here
This is exam question 4 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 | Where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 4 stated | advmod |
| 2 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 stated | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 stated | aux:pass |
| 4 | stated | state | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 15 determine | advcl |
| 5 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 10 lost | mark |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 person | det |
| 7 | person | person | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 lost | nsubj:pass |
| 8 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 person | punct |
| 9 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 lost | aux |
| 10 | lost | lose | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 15 determine | advcl |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 plot | det |
| 12 | plot | plot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 lost | obj |
| 13 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 plot | punct |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 lost | punct |
| 15 | determine | determine | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 condition | det |
| 17 | condition | condition | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 determine | obj |
| 18 | so | so | ADV | _ | 19 described | advmod |
| 19 | described | describe | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 17 condition | acl |
| 20 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 15 determine | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | state speech: other | present · passive | it | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic | |||||
| 2 | lose in a quote | present · perfect · passive | a person | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | determine | imperative | you not said here | the condition | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent condition=Topic | ||||
| 4 | describe | participle | the condition not said here | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent |
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 person has been deprived of an allotment
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 person | det |
| 2 | person | person | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 deprived | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 deprived | aux |
| 4 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 5 deprived | aux:pass |
| 5 | deprived | deprive | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 allotment | case |
| 7 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 allotment | det |
| 8 | allotment | allotment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 deprived | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | deprive | present · perfect · passive | the person | of a allotment | vn deprive-10.6.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Source of allotment=Theme |
Option 2 · ✓ the right answer
The person has begun to behave in an irrational manner
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 person | det |
| 2 | person | person | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 begun | nsubj |
| 3 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 begun | aux |
| 4 | begun | begin | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 behave | mark |
| 6 | behave | behave | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 begun | xcomp |
| 7 | in | in | ADP | _ | 10 manner | case |
| 8 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 10 manner | det |
| 9 | irrational | irrational | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 manner | amod |
| 10 | manner | manner | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 behave | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | begin | present · perfect | the person | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 2 | behave | to-infinitive | the person not said here | a irrational manner | vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent |
Option 3
The person has mislaid a parcel of land
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 person | det |
| 2 | person | person | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 mislaid | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 mislaid | aux |
| 4 | mislaid | mislay | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 parcel | det |
| 6 | parcel | parcel | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 mislaid | obj |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 land | case |
| 8 | land | land | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 parcel | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mislay | present · perfect · passive | the person | tree rules |
Option 4
The person has forgotten the narrative of a novel
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 person | det |
| 2 | person | person | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 forgotten | nsubj |
| 3 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 forgotten | aux |
| 4 | forgotten | forget | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 narrative | det |
| 6 | narrative | narrative | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 forgotten | obj |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 9 novel | case |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 novel | det |
| 9 | novel | novel | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 narrative | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | forget | present · perfect | the person | the narrative of a novel | 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/e4/