Exam question 4 · Olympiad: the euphemism detective ★★★

Ascertain which of the following constitutes understatement rather than hyperbole.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, follow, constitute · To what, where: understatement

This is exam question 4 of lesson 41 «Olympiad: the euphemism detective ★★★» 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	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	1 Ascertain	obj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 the	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 which	nmod
5	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 constitutes	nsubj
6	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 the	acl:relcl
7	understatement	understatement	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 constitutes	obj
8	rather	rather	ADV	ExtPos=CCONJ	10 hyperbole	cc
9	than	than	ADP	_	8 rather	fixed
10	hyperbole	hyperbole	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 understatement	conj
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Topic
2	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	constitute	present		understatement rather hyperbole	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme understatement=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

Claiming to have waited "forever"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Claiming	claim	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 waited	mark
2	to	to	PART	_	4 waited	mark
3	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 waited	aux
4	waited	wait	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 forever	punct
6	forever	forever	ADV	_	4 waited	advmod
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 waited	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	claim speech: other	gerund							vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	wait	to-infinitive · perfect						forever property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Describing a deep cut as "a scratch"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Describing	describe	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 cut	det
3	deep	deep	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 cut	amod
4	cut	cut	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Describing	obj
5	as	as	ADP	_	8 scratch	case
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 scratch	punct
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 scratch	det
8	scratch	scratch	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Describing	obl
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 scratch	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	describe	gerund		a deep cut				as a scratch	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent cut=Theme as scratch=Attribute

Option 3

Claiming to have told someone "a million times"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Claiming	claim	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 told	csubj:pass
2	to	to	PART	_	1 Claiming	fixed
3	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 told	aux
4	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	someone	someone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	4 told	obj
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 times	punct
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 million	det
8	million	million	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 times	nummod
9	times	time	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 someone	appos
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 times	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	claim speech: other	gerund							vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	tell speech: assert	infinitive · perfect	Claiming		someone				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent someone=Recipient

Option 4

Describing a bag as weighing "a ton"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Describing	describe	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 bag	det
3	bag	bag	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Describing	obj
4	as	as	SCONJ	_	5 weighing	mark
5	weighing	weigh	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	1 Describing	advcl
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 ton	punct
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 ton	det
8	ton	ton	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 weighing	obj
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 ton	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	describe	gerund		a bag					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent bag=Theme
2	weigh	gerund		a ton					vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme ton=Value

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/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/e4/