Exam question 2 · Not unhappy and not half: litotes

Ascertain the meaning of the British expression «Not half!», given in reply to an enquiry whether the speaker enjoyed a match.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, speaker · What happens: ascertain, give, enjoy, mean · To what, where: meaning, enquiry, reply, match, British expression

This is exam question 2 of lesson 50 «Not unhappy and not half: litotes» 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	British	British	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 expression	amod
7	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 meaning	nmod
8	«	«	PUNCT	_	10 half	punct
9	Not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	10 half	advmod
10	half	half	NOUN	Number=Sing NumForm=Word NumType=Frac	7 expression	appos
11	!	!	PUNCT	_	10 half	punct
12	»	»	PUNCT	_	10 half	punct
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 given	punct
14	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 meaning	acl
15	in	in	ADP	_	16 reply	case
16	reply	reply	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 given	obl
17	to	to	ADP	_	19 enquiry	case
18	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 enquiry	det
19	enquiry	enquiry	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 given	obl
20	whether	whether	SCONJ	_	23 enjoyed	mark
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 speaker	det
22	speaker	speaker	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 enjoyed	nsubj
23	enjoyed	enjoy	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 given	advcl
24	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	25 match	det
25	match	match	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 enjoyed	obj
26	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the meaning of the British expression			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic
2	give	participle		the meaning of the British expression not said here	a enquiry	reply	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to enquiry=Recipient
3	enjoy	past	the speaker	a match			vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer match=Stimulus
4	mean			the British 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

Departure at half time

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Departure	departure	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	at	at	ADP	_	4 time	case
3	half	half	NOUN	Number=Sing NumForm=Word NumType=Frac	4 time	compound
4	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Departure	nmod

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

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Emphatic agreement: yes, very much

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Emphatic	emphatic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 agreement	amod
2	agreement	agreement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	:	:	PUNCT	_	2 agreement	punct
4	yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	2 agreement	conj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 yes	punct
6	very	very	ADV	_	7 much	advmod
7	much	much	ADV	_	4 yes	advmod

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

Option 3

Complete disapproval of the match

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Complete	complete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 disapproval	amod
2	disapproval	disapproval	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 match	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 match	det
5	match	match	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 disapproval	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disapprove			the match					nom disapproval «feeling transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

Partial enjoyment confined to one half of the match

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Partial	partial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 enjoyment	amod
2	enjoyment	enjoyment	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	confined	confine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 enjoyment	acl
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 half	case
5	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 half	nummod
6	half	half	NOUN	Number=Sing NumForm=Word NumType=Frac	3 confined	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 match	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 match	det
9	match	match	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 half	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	confine	participle		Partial enjoyment not said here		one half of the match			vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to half=Destination

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/50-not-unhappy-and-not-half-litotes/e2/