Exam question 3 · Dead, a mile long and everyone: more everyday hyperbole

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the expression «I could eat a horse»?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: I · What happens: follow, characteris, eat · To what, where: expression, horse · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 of lesson 45 «Dead, a mile long and everyone: more everyday hyperbole» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 expression	det
10	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	«	«	PUNCT	_	14 eat	punct
12	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	14 eat	nsubj
13	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 eat	aux
14	eat	eat	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 expression	parataxis
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 horse	det
16	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 eat	obj
17	»	»	PUNCT	_	14 eat	punct
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the expression	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	eat in a quote	could	I	a horse		vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horse=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

A fixed saying denoting extreme hunger

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 saying	det
2	fixed	fix	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 saying	amod
3	saying	saying	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	denoting	denote	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 saying	acl
5	extreme	extreme	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 hunger	amod
6	hunger	hunger	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 denoting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fix	participle							vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	denote	gerund	a fixed saying not said here	extreme hunger					vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot hunger=Topic

Option 2

A request for a smaller portion

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 request	det
2	request	request	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	for	for	ADP	_	6 portion	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 portion	det
5	smaller	small	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	6 portion	amod
6	portion	portion	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 request	nmod

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

Option 3

A declared intention to consume an animal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 intention	det
2	declared	declare	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 intention	amod
3	intention	intention	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 consume	mark
5	consume	consume	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 intention	acl
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 animal	det
7	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 consume	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	declare speech: other	participle							vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent
2	consume	to-infinitive		a animal					vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent animal=Asset

Option 4

A complaint about the quality of a meal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 complaint	det
2	complaint	complaint	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	about	about	ADP	_	5 quality	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 quality	det
5	quality	quality	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 complaint	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 meal	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 meal	det
8	meal	meal	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 quality	nmod

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

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/45-dead-a-mile-long-and-everyone-more-everyday-hyperbole/e3/