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

Identify the principal meaning of the expression "to pass gas" in contemporary American usage.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, pass, mean · To what, where: principal meaning, gas, contemporary American usage, expression

This is exam question 1 of lesson 7 «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	4 meaning	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 meaning	amod
4	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 expression	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 expression	det
7	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 meaning	nmod
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 expression	punct
9	to	to	PART	_	10 pass	mark
10	pass	pass	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Identify	advcl
11	gas	gas	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 pass	obj
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 gas	punct
13	in	in	ADP	_	16 usage	case
14	contemporary	contemporary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 usage	amod
15	American	American	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 usage	amod
16	usage	usage	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 pass	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal meaning of the expression		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent meaning=Theme
2	pass in a quote	to-infinitive	you not said here	gas	contemporary American usage	vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent gas=Theme in usage=Destination
3	mean			the expression		nom meaning «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 · ✓ the right answer

To expel gas from the body; to fart

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 expel	mark
2	expel	expel	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	gas	gas	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 expel	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 body	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 body	det
6	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 expel	obl
7	;	;	PUNCT	_	9 fart	punct
8	to	to	PART	_	9 fart	mark
9	fart	fart	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	2 expel	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	expel	to-infinitive		gas		the body			vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent gas=Theme from body=Source
2	fart	to-infinitive							vn hiccup-40.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

To transfer a gas cylinder to another person

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 transfer	mark
2	transfer	transfer	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 cylinder	det
4	gas	gas	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 cylinder	compound
5	cylinder	cylinder	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 transfer	obj
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 person	case
7	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	8 person	det
8	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 transfer	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	transfer	to-infinitive		a gas cylinder	another person				vn contribute-13.2-2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent cylinder=Theme to person=Recipient

Option 3

To refuel a motor vehicle

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 refuel	mark
2	refuel	refuel	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 vehicle	det
4	motor	motor	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 vehicle	compound
5	vehicle	vehicle	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 refuel	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	refuel	to-infinitive		a motor vehicle					tree rules

Option 4

To overtake a vehicle on the road

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

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

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	overtake	to-infinitive		a vehicle		the road			tree rules

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/7-wind-sick-and-runs/e1/