Exam question 4 · Idioms taken literally

Determine the most appropriate procedure for rendering an idiom into another language.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: determine, render · To what, where: appropriate procedure, idiom, language

This is exam question 4 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	Determine	determine	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 procedure	det
3	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	4 appropriate	advmod
4	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 procedure	amod
5	procedure	procedure	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Determine	obj
6	for	for	SCONJ	_	7 rendering	mark
7	rendering	render	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Determine	advcl
8	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 idiom	det
9	idiom	idiom	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 rendering	obj
10	into	into	ADP	_	12 language	case
11	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	12 language	det
12	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 rendering	obl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Determine	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	determine	imperative	you not said here	the appropriate procedure					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent procedure=Topic
2	render	gerund	you not said here	a idiom		another language			vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent idiom=Theme

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 omission of all figurative language

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 omission	det
2	omission	omission	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 language	case
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	6 language	det
5	figurative	figurative	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 language	amod
6	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 omission	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	omit			all figurative language					nom omission «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The literal translation of each constituent word in its original order, without exception

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 translation	det
2	literal	literal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 translation	amod
3	translation	translation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 word	case
5	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	7 word	det
6	constituent	constituent	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 word	compound
7	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 translation	nmod
8	in	in	ADP	_	11 order	case
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 order	nmod:poss
10	original	original	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 order	amod
11	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 word	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 exception	punct
13	without	without	ADP	_	14 exception	case
14	exception	exception	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 translation	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	translate		each constituent word in word's original order						nom translation «communication intransitive»: of=agent
2	order		word						nom order «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The substitution of an idiom of equivalent meaning in the target language

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 substitution	det
2	substitution	substitution	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 idiom	case
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 idiom	det
5	idiom	idiom	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 substitution	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 meaning	case
7	equivalent	equivalent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 meaning	amod
8	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 idiom	nmod
9	in	in	ADP	_	12 language	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 language	det
11	target	target	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 language	compound
12	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 substitution	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	substitute		a idiom of equivalent meaning			the target language			nom substitution «event intransitive»: of=agent in=place

Option 4

The retention of the original words untranslated

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 retention	det
2	retention	retention	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 untranslated	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 words	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 words	det
5	original	original	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 words	amod
6	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 retention	nmod
7	untranslated	untranslat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	untranslat	participle	the retention of the original words						tree rules
2	retain			the original words					nom retention «act transitive»: of=patient

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/e4/