Exam question 3 · A bit nippy and not ideal: British understatement

Ascertain the meaning of the Scots expression «a wee bit dreich the day», uttered during a severe storm.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, utter, mean · To what, where: meaning, Scots expression

This is exam question 3 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	Ascertain	ascertain	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 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 expression	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 expression	det
6	Scots	Scot	PROPN	Number=Plur	7 expression	compound
7	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 meaning	nmod
8	«	«	PUNCT	_	11 bit	punct
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 bit	det
10	wee	wee	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 bit	amod
11	bit	bit	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 expression	appos
12	dreich	dreich	ADP	_	14 day	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 day	det
14	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 bit	nmod
15	»	»	PUNCT	_	11 bit	punct
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 uttered	punct
17	uttered	utter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 expression	conj
18	during	during	ADP	_	21 storm	case
19	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	21 storm	det
20	severe	severe	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 storm	amod
21	storm	storm	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 uttered	obl
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the meaning of the Scots expression		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic
2	utter speech: other	participle	you not said here		during a severe storm	vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
3	mean			the Scots expression		nom meaning «communication 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 · ← Mova's choice

That the weather today is slightly sunny

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	7 sunny	nsubj
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 weather	det
3	weather	weather	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 That	nmod
4	today	today	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 weather	nmod:unmarked
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 sunny	cop
6	slightly	slightly	ADV	_	7 sunny	advmod
7	sunny	sunny	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	That					slightly, sunny property	tree rules

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

That the weather today is extremely wet, grey and unpleasant

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 weather	det
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 weather	det
3	weather	weather	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 wet	nsubj
4	today	today	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 weather	nmod:unmarked
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 wet	cop
6	extremely	extremely	ADV	_	7 wet	advmod
7	wet	wet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 grey	punct
9	grey	grey	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 wet	conj
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 unpleasant	cc
11	unpleasant	unpleasant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 wet	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	present	that weather today	extremely, wet property	tree rules
2	be		that weather today not said here		tree rules
3	be		that weather today not said here		tree rules

Option 3

That the storm has passed entirely

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 storm	det
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 storm	det
3	storm	storm	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 passed	nsubj
4	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 passed	aux
5	passed	pass	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
6	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	5 passed	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pass	present · perfect	that storm					entirely property	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

That the weather tomorrow will be dry

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	4 tomorrow	det
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 weather	det
3	weather	weather	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 tomorrow	compound
4	tomorrow	tomorrow	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 dry	nsubj
5	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 dry	aux
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 dry	cop
7	dry	dry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	future	that weather tomorrow					dry 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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