Exam question 3 · Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing

Select the response that is consistent with the established meaning of the phrase "the s-word".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, response · What happens: select, be, establish, mean · To what, where: response, phrase

This is exam question 3 of lesson 38 «Soft words for hard things: 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	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 consistent	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 consistent	cop
6	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 response	acl:relcl
7	with	with	ADP	_	10 meaning	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 meaning	det
9	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 meaning	amod
10	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 consistent	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 phrase	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 phrase	det
13	phrase	phrase	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 meaning	nmod
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	18 word	punct
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 word	det
16	s	s	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 word	compound
17	-	-	PUNCT	_	16 s	punct
18	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 phrase	appos
19	"	"	PUNCT	_	18 word	punct
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	is	present	the response		with the established meaning of the phrase; consistent property	tree rules
3	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
4	mean			the phrase		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 circumlocution naming a vulgar swear word without uttering it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 circumlocution	det
2	circumlocution	circumlocution	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	naming	name	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 circumlocution	acl
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 word	det
5	vulgar	vulgar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 word	amod
6	swear	swear	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 word	compound
7	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 naming	obj
8	without	without	SCONJ	_	9 uttering	mark
9	uttering	utter	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 naming	advcl
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 uttering	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	name	gerund	a circumlocution not said here	a vulgar swear word					vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme
2	utter speech: other	gerund	a circumlocution not said here	word					vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent it=Topic

Option 2

A formal synonym for the word "stupid"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 synonym	det
2	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 synonym	amod
3	synonym	synonym	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	for	for	ADP	_	6 word	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 word	det
6	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 synonym	nmod
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 stupid	punct
8	stupid	stupid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 word	appos
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 stupid	punct

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

Option 3

An abbreviation of the word "sorry"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 abbreviation	det
2	abbreviation	abbreviation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 word	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 word	det
5	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 abbreviation	nmod
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 sorry	punct
7	sorry	sorry	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 word	appos
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 sorry	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	abbreviate			the word					nom abbreviation «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

A password employed by secret societies of the nineteenth century

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 password	det
2	password	password	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 password	acl
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 societies	case
5	secret	secret	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 societies	amod
6	societies	society	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 employed	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	10 century	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 century	det
9	nineteenth	nineteenth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 century	amod
10	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 societies	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	participle		a password not said here				by secret societies of the nineteenth century	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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/38-drat-and-the-f-word/e3/