Exam question 3 · Olympiad: reading between the lines ★★★
A report states: "Following headwinds in spring, efficiency savings were made in summer; in autumn the board said lessons had been learned." Identify what occurred in summer.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: board, you · What happens: follow, make, say, learn, identify, occur · To what, where: report states, lessons · Speech: someone speaks here
This is exam question 3 of lesson 42 «Olympiad: reading between the lines ★★★» 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
Sentence 1: A report states: "Following headwinds in spring, efficiency savings were made in summer; in autumn the board said lessons had been learned."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 states | det |
| 2 | report | report | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 states | compound |
| 3 | states | state | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 made | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 7 headwinds | punct |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 Following | punct |
| 6 | Following | follow | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 7 headwinds | amod |
| 7 | headwinds | headwind | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 made | nsubj:pass |
| 8 | in | in | ADP | _ | 9 spring | case |
| 9 | spring | spring | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 headwinds | nmod |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 savings | punct |
| 11 | efficiency | efficiency | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 savings | compound |
| 12 | savings | savings | NOUN | Number=Ptan | 14 made | nsubj:pass |
| 13 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 made | aux:pass |
| 14 | made | make | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 15 | in | in | ADP | _ | 16 summer | case |
| 16 | summer | summer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 made | obl |
| 17 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 22 said | punct |
| 18 | in | in | ADP | _ | 19 autumn | case |
| 19 | autumn | autumn | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 said | obl |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 board | det |
| 21 | board | board | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 said | nsubj |
| 22 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 made | conj |
| 23 | lessons | lesson | NOUN | Number=Plur | 26 learned | nsubj:pass |
| 24 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 learned | aux |
| 25 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 26 learned | aux:pass |
| 26 | learned | learn | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 22 said | ccomp |
| 27 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 14 made | punct |
| 28 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 14 made | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | follow in a quote | gerund | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 2 | make in a quote | past · passive | a report states | summer | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product | ||||
| 3 | say speech: assert in a quote | past | the board | autumn | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 4 | learn in a quote | past · perfect · passive | lessons | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
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.
Sentence 2: Identify what occurred in summer.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Identify | identify | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 3 occurred | nsubj |
| 3 | occurred | occur | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 1 Identify | ccomp |
| 4 | in | in | ADP | _ | 5 summer | case |
| 5 | summer | summer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 occurred | obl |
| 6 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Identify | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | identify | imperative | you not said here | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 2 | occur | past | summer | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Sales rose markedly
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sales | sale | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 rose | nsubj |
| 2 | rose | rise | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | markedly | markedly | ADV | _ | 2 rose | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | rise | past | Sales | markedly property | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
Option 2
The board admitted failure
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 board | det |
| 2 | board | board | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | admitted | admit | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 board | acl |
| 4 | failure | failure | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 admitted | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | admit speech: other | participle | the board not said here | failure | vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent failure=Theme |
Option 3
Problems first hurt sales
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Problems | problem | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 hurt | nsubj |
| 2 | first | first | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 3 hurt | advmod |
| 3 | hurt | hurt | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | sales | sale | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 hurt | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hurt | past | Problems | sales | first property | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer sale=Patient |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
Spending was cut
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spending | spending | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 cut | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 cut | aux:pass |
| 3 | cut | cut | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | cut | past · passive | Spending | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
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/42-olympiad-reading-between-the-lines/e3/