Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing

Identify the gesture denoted by the expression "the one-finger salute".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, denote · To what, where: gesture

This is exam question 4 of lesson 40 «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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 gesture	det
3	gesture	gesture	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	denoted	denote	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 gesture	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 expression	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 expression	det
7	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 denoted	obl
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 salute	punct
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 salute	det
10	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	12 finger	nummod
11	-	-	PUNCT	_	10 one	punct
12	finger	finger	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 salute	compound
13	salute	salute	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 expression	appos
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 salute	punct
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the gesture					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent gesture=Theme
2	denote	participle		the gesture not said here				by the expression	vn indicate-78 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot

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

A formal military greeting with the hand

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 greeting	det
2	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 greeting	amod
3	military	military	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 greeting	amod
4	greeting	greeting	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 hand	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 hand	det
7	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 greeting	nmod

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

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The raising of the middle finger as an insult

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 raising	det
2	raising	raising	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 finger	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 finger	det
5	middle	middle	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 finger	amod
6	finger	finger	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 raising	nmod
7	as	as	ADP	_	9 insult	case
8	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 insult	det
9	insult	insult	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 raising	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	raise			the middle finger				as a insult	nom raising «event transitive»: of=patient as=obl

Option 3

A gesture requesting silence from others

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 gesture	det
2	gesture	gesture	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	requesting	request	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 gesture	acl
4	silence	silence	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 requesting	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	6 others	case
6	others	other	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 requesting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	request	gerund	a gesture not said here	silence		others			vn beg-58.2 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent silence=Recipient

Option 4

The indication of a direction with the finger

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 indication	det
2	indication	indication	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 direction	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 direction	det
5	direction	direction	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 indication	nmod
6	with	with	ADP	_	8 finger	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 finger	det
8	finger	finger	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 direction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	indicate			a direction with the finger					nom indication «communication transitive»: of=patient

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/40-with-all-due-respect/e4/