Exam question 3 · Idioms taken literally

In respect of the origin of the expression "raining cats and dogs", select the response consistent with the established facts.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: expression, you · What happens: rain, select, establish, respect · To what, where: cats, response, respect, origin

This is exam question 3 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	In	in	ADP	_	2 respect	case
2	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 select	obl
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 origin	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 origin	det
5	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 respect	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 expression	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 expression	det
8	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 origin	nmod
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 expression	punct
10	raining	rain	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 expression	acl
11	cats	cat	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 raining	obj
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 dogs	cc
13	dogs	dog	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 cats	conj
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 raining	punct
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 respect	punct
16	select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 response	det
18	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 select	obj
19	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 response	amod
20	with	with	ADP	_	23 facts	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 facts	det
22	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	23 facts	amod
23	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 consistent	obl
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	16 select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	rain in a quote	gerund	the expression not said here	cats and dogs		tree rules
2	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	respect of the origin of the expression	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
3	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
4	respect			the origin of the expression		nom respect «cognition 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

It was coined by Shakespeare in 1600

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 coined	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 coined	aux:pass
3	coined	coin	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 Shakespeare	case
5	Shakespeare	Shakespeare	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 coined	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 1600	case
7	1600	1600	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	3 coined	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	coin	past · passive	Shakespeare	It		1600			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Result

Option 2

It derives from a Latin weather proverb

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 derives	nsubj
2	derives	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	7 proverb	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 proverb	det
5	Latin	Latin	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 proverb	amod
6	weather	weather	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 proverb	compound
7	proverb	proverb	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 derives	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	derive	present	It			a Latin weather proverb			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent from proverb=Material

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

It is proven to derive from animals falling from the roofs of houses in storms

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 proven	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 proven	aux:pass
3	proven	prove	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 derive	mark
5	derive	derive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 proven	xcomp
6	from	from	ADP	_	7 animals	case
7	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 derive	obl
8	falling	fall	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 animals	acl
9	from	from	ADP	_	11 roofs	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 roofs	det
11	roofs	roof	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 falling	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 houses	case
13	houses	house	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 roofs	nmod
14	in	in	ADP	_	15 storms	case
15	storms	storm	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 derive	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	prove	present · passive		It			vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme
2	derive	to-infinitive			storms	from animals	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in storm=Location
3	fall	gerund	animals not said here		the roofs of houses		vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from roof=Initial_Location

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Its origin is uncertain and the popular explanations are unproven

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 origin	nmod:poss
2	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 uncertain	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 uncertain	cop
4	uncertain	uncertain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 unproven	cc
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 explanations	det
7	popular	popular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 explanations	amod
8	explanations	explanation	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 unproven	nsubj
9	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 unproven	cop
10	unproven	unproven	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 uncertain	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Its origin					uncertain property	tree rules
2	is	present	the popular explanations					unproven 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/e3/