Exam question 2 · Idioms taken literally

Identify the meaning conveyed by the expression "to cost an arm and a leg".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, convey, cost · To what, where: meaning, arm

This is exam question 2 of lesson 25 «Idioms taken literally» of the language 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	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 meaning	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 expression	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 expression	det
7	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 conveyed	obl
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 expression	punct
9	to	to	PART	_	10 cost	mark
10	cost	cost	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 conveyed	advcl
11	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 arm	det
12	arm	arm	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 cost	obj
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 leg	cc
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 leg	det
15	leg	leg	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 arm	conj
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 leg	punct
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	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	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	cost in a quote	to-infinitive		a arm and a leg		vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme arm=Value

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 be obtainable without charge

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	3 obtainable	mark
2	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	3 obtainable	cop
3	obtainable	obtainable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	without	without	ADP	_	5 charge	case
5	charge	charge	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 obtainable	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	to-infinitive						without charge; obtainable property	tree rules

Option 2

To result in bodily injury

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 result	mark
2	result	result	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 injury	case
4	bodily	bodily	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 injury	amod
5	injury	injury	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 result	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	result	to-infinitive				bodily injury			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in injury=Location

Option 3

To require great physical exertion

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 require	mark
2	require	require	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 exertion	amod
4	physical	physical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 exertion	amod
5	exertion	exertion	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 require	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	to-infinitive		great physical exertion					vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme exertion=Precondition

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

To be exceedingly expensive

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	4 expensive	mark
2	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 expensive	cop
3	exceedingly	exceedingly	ADV	_	4 expensive	advmod
4	expensive	expensive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	to-infinitive						exceedingly, expensive property	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/language/25-idioms-taken-literally/e2/