Exam question 1 · A bit nippy and not ideal: British understatement

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the utterance «Bit nippy out», delivered upon a snow-covered morning with a gale blowing?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: gale · What happens: follow, characteris, deliver, cover, blow · To what, where: utterance, covered morning

This is exam question 1 of lesson 49 «A bit nippy and not ideal: British understatement» 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 utterance	det
10	utterance	utterance	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	«	«	PUNCT	_	13 nippy	punct
12	Bit	bit	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 nippy	obl:unmarked
13	nippy	nippy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 utterance	appos
14	out	out	ADP	_	13 nippy	compound:prt
15	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 nippy	punct
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 delivered	punct
17	delivered	deliver	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 utterance	acl
18	upon	upon	ADP	_	23 morning	case
19	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	23 morning	det
20	snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 covered	compound
21	-	-	PUNCT	_	20 snow	punct
22	covered	cover	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	23 morning	amod
23	morning	morning	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 delivered	obl
24	with	with	SCONJ	_	27 blowing	mark
25	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	26 gale	det
26	gale	gale	NOUN	Number=Sing	27 blowing	nsubj
27	blowing	blow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	23 morning	acl
28	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the utterance		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	deliver	participle		the utterance not said here	morning		vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	cover	participle					vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme
5	blow	gerund	a gale	a covered morning not said here			vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent morning=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

Hyperbole, the actual cold being negligible

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Hyperbole	hyperbole	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 cold	punct
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 cold	det
4	actual	actual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 cold	amod
5	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Hyperbole	acl:relcl
6	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 negligible	cop
7	negligible	negligible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 cold	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	gerund						negligible property	tree rules

Option 2

A precise report of a mild temperature

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 report	det
2	precise	precise	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 report	amod
3	report	report	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 temperature	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 temperature	det
6	mild	mild	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 temperature	amod
7	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 report	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	report			a mild temperature					nom report «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

A complaint concerning the regrettable absence of snow

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	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 complaint	acl
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 absence	det
5	regrettable	regrettable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 absence	amod
6	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 concerning	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 snow	case
8	snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 absence	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	concern	gerund	a complaint not said here	the regrettable absence of snow					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus absence=Experiencer
2	absent			snow					nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Understatement, the actual cold being severe

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Understatement	understatement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 cold	punct
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 cold	det
4	actual	actual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 cold	amod
5	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Understatement	appos
6	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 severe	cop
7	severe	severe	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 cold	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	gerund						severe 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.

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