Exam question 1 · Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions

Identify the meaning most accurately conveyed by the expression "to spend a penny" in traditional British usage.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, convey, spend · To what, where: meaning, penny, traditional British usage

This is exam question 1 of lesson 6 «Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions» 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 meaning	det
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	6 conveyed	advmod
5	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	6 conveyed	advmod
6	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 meaning	acl:relcl
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 expression	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 expression	det
9	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 conveyed	obl
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 expression	punct
11	to	to	PART	_	12 spend	mark
12	spend	spend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 conveyed	advcl
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 penny	det
14	penny	penny	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 spend	obj
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 penny	punct
16	in	in	ADP	_	19 usage	case
17	traditional	traditional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 usage	amod
18	British	British	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 usage	amod
19	usage	usage	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 spend	obl
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the meaning			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent meaning=Theme
2	convey	participle		the meaning not said here		by the expression; accurately property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	spend in a quote	to-infinitive		a penny	traditional British usage		vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent penny=Asset

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

To deposit a coin in a savings account

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 deposit	mark
2	deposit	deposit	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 coin	det
4	coin	coin	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 deposit	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	8 account	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 account	det
7	savings	savings	NOUN	Number=Ptan	8 account	compound
8	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 deposit	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deposit	to-infinitive		a coin		a savings account			vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent coin=Theme in account=Destination

Option 2

To make a purchase of negligible value

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 make	mark
2	make	make	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 purchase	det
4	purchase	purchase	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 make	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 value	case
6	negligible	negligible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 value	amod
7	value	value	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 purchase	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	to-infinitive		a purchase of negligible value					vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset purchase=Product
2	purchase			negligible value					nom purchase «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

To make use of a toilet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 make	mark
2	make	make	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 make	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 toilet	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 toilet	det
6	toilet	toilet	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 use	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	to-infinitive		use of a toilet					vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset use=Product
2	use			a toilet					nom use «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

To donate a small sum to charity

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 donate	mark
2	donate	donate	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 sum	det
4	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 sum	amod
5	sum	sum	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 donate	obj
6	to	to	ADP	_	7 charity	case
7	charity	charity	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 donate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	donate	to-infinitive		a small sum	charity				vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent sum=Theme to charity=Recipient

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/6-toilet-words/e1/