Exam question 3 · Soft words for hard things: age and looks and weight

Select the response consistent with the established meaning of the phrase "a senior moment".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: select, establish, mean · To what, where: response, phrase

This is exam question 3 of lesson 9 «Soft words for hard things: age and looks and weight» 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	3 response	amod
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	_	15 moment	punct
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 moment	det
14	senior	senior	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 moment	amod
15	moment	moment	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 phrase	appos
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 moment	punct
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	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	mean			the phrase	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

A period of seniority at work

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 period	det
2	period	period	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 seniority	case
4	seniority	seniority	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 period	nmod
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 work	case
6	work	work	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 period	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

A lapse of memory attributed to advancing age

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 lapse	det
2	lapse	lapse	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 memory	case
4	memory	memory	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 lapse	nmod
5	attributed	attribute	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 lapse	acl
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 age	case
7	advancing	advancing	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 age	compound
8	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 attributed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attribute	participle		a lapse of memory not said here			to advancing age		tree rules
2	lapse		memory						nom lapse «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3

An occasion on which the eldest person speaks

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 occasion	det
2	occasion	occasion	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 speaks	nsubj
3	on	on	ADP	_	7 person	case
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 person	nsubj
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 person	det
6	eldest	eld	ADJ	Degree=Sup	7 person	amod
7	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 occasion	nmod
8	speaks	speak	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	speak speech: other	present	a occasion on the eldest person						vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

A ceremony marking retirement

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 ceremony	det
2	ceremony	ceremony	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	marking	mark	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 ceremony	acl
4	retirement	retirement	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 marking	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mark	gerund	a ceremony not said here	retirement					vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent retirement=Destination

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/9-age-looks-and-size/e3/