Exam question 3 · Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions

Select the response consistent with the established meaning of the phrase "to answer the call of nature".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: select, establish, answer, mean, call · To what, where: response, call, phrase, nature · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 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	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	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 meaning	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 meaning	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 meaning	amod
8	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 consistent	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 phrase	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 phrase	det
11	phrase	phrase	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 meaning	nmod
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 answer	punct
13	to	to	PART	_	14 answer	mark
14	answer	answer	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	11 phrase	parataxis
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 call	det
16	call	call	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 answer	obj
17	of	of	ADP	_	18 nature	case
18	nature	nature	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 call	nmod
19	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 answer	punct
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	answer speech: assert in a quote	to-infinitive		the call of nature		vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent call=Eventuality
4	mean			the phrase		nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient
5	call in a quote			nature		nom call «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

To respond to a telephone call outdoors

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 respond	mark
2	respond	respond	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	6 call	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 call	det
5	telephone	telephone	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 call	compound
6	call	call	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 respond	obl
7	outdoors	outdoors	ADV	_	2 respond	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	respond speech: other	to-infinitive						to a telephone call; outdoors property	vn respond-113 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to call=Theme

Option 2

To undertake a walk in the countryside

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 undertake	mark
2	undertake	undertake	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 walk	det
4	walk	walk	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 undertake	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 countryside	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 countryside	det
7	countryside	countryside	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 undertake	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	undertake	to-infinitive		a walk		the countryside			vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent walk=Eventuality

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

To proceed to a toilet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

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

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	proceed	to-infinitive						to a toilet	vn begin-55.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent

Option 4

To observe wildlife in its habitat

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 observe	mark
2	observe	observe	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	wildlife	wildlife	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 observe	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 habitat	case
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 habitat	nmod:poss
6	habitat	habitat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 observe	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	observe	to-infinitive		wildlife		wildlife's habitat			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent wildlife=Topic

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/e3/