Exam question 1 · Sarcasm, hyperbole and understatement side by side

Identify the figure employed in the utterance «Oh brilliant, I LOVE standing in the rain», made by a pupil detained at a bus stop in heavy rain.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, I · What happens: identify, employ, love, stand, make, detain · To what, where: figure, utterance, rain, pupil, bus stop · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 1 of lesson 52 «Sarcasm, hyperbole and understatement side by side» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 figure	det
3	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 figure	acl
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 utterance	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 utterance	det
7	utterance	utterance	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 employed	obl
8	«	«	PUNCT	_	10 brilliant	punct
9	Oh	oh	INTJ	_	10 brilliant	discourse
10	brilliant	brilliant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 utterance	appos
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 LOVE	punct
12	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	13 LOVE	nsubj
13	LOVE	love	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 brilliant	parataxis
14	standing	stand	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	13 LOVE	xcomp
15	in	in	ADP	_	17 rain	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 rain	det
17	rain	rain	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 standing	obl
18	»	»	PUNCT	_	10 brilliant	punct
19	,	,	PUNCT	_	20 made	punct
20	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 figure	acl
21	by	by	ADP	_	23 pupil	case
22	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	23 pupil	det
23	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 made	obl
24	detained	detain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	23 pupil	acl
25	at	at	ADP	_	28 stop	case
26	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	28 stop	det
27	bus	bus	NOUN	Number=Sing	28 stop	compound
28	stop	stop	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 detained	obl
29	in	in	ADP	_	31 rain	case
30	heavy	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	31 rain	amod
31	rain	rain	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 detained	obl
32	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the figure			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent figure=Theme
2	employ	participle		the figure not said here	the utterance		vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	love in a quote	present	I				vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
4	stand not said to happen, in a quote	gerund	I not said here		the rain		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in rain=Location
5	make	participle		the figure not said here		by a pupil	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset
6	detain	participle		a pupil not said here	a bus stop	in heavy rain	vn confine-92 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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

Understatement, the expressed meaning being a reduction of the truth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Understatement	understatement	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 reduction	nsubj
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 meaning	punct
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 meaning	det
4	expressed	express	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 meaning	amod
5	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Understatement	conj
6	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 reduction	cop
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 reduction	det
8	reduction	reduction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 truth	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 truth	det
11	truth	truth	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 reduction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	express	participle							vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	is a	gerund	Understatement and the expressed meaning	a reduction				of the truth	tree rules

Option 2

A literal declaration of preference

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 declaration	det
2	literal	literal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 declaration	amod
3	declaration	declaration	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 preference	case
5	preference	preference	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 declaration	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	declare			preference					nom declaration «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

Hyperbole, the expressed meaning being an enlargement of the truth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Hyperbole	hyperbole	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 enlargement	punct
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 meaning	det
4	expressed	express	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 meaning	amod
5	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 enlargement	nsubj
6	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 enlargement	cop
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 enlargement	det
8	enlargement	enlargement	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Hyperbole	appos
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 truth	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 truth	det
11	truth	truth	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 enlargement	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	express	participle							vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	is a	gerund	the expressed meaning	a enlargement				of the truth	tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Sarcasm, the expressed meaning being the opposite of that intended

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sarcasm	sarcasm	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 opposite	punct
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 meaning	det
4	expressed	express	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 meaning	amod
5	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 opposite	nsubj
6	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 opposite	cop
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 opposite	det
8	opposite	opposite	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Sarcasm	appos
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 that	case
10	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	11 intended	obl
11	intended	intend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 opposite	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	express	participle				vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	is a	gerund	the expressed meaning	the opposite		tree rules
3	intend	participle		the opposite not said here	of the opposite	vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent

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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