Exam question 3 · Told you a hundred times: how other languages exaggerate a…

Ascertain the reason for which a giver in Japan may describe a costly gift as «a boring little thing».

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, giver · What happens: ascertain, describe · To what, where: reason, costly gift

This is exam question 3 of lesson 53 «Told you a hundred times: how other languages exaggerate and play down» 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 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 describe	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 giver	det
7	giver	giver	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 describe	nsubj
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 Japan	case
9	Japan	Japan	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 giver	nmod
10	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 describe	aux
11	describe	describe	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 reason	parataxis
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 gift	det
13	costly	costly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 gift	amod
14	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 describe	obj
15	as	as	ADP	_	20 thing	case
16	«	«	PUNCT	_	20 thing	punct
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	20 thing	det
18	boring	boring	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 thing	amod
19	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 thing	amod
20	thing	thing	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 describe	obl
21	»	»	PUNCT	_	11 describe	punct
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	describe	may	a giver in Japan	a costly gift				for the reason; as a boring little thing	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent gift=Theme as thing=Attribute

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

It is a customary expression of politeness

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 expression	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 expression	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 expression	det
4	customary	customary	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 expression	compound
5	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 politeness	case
7	politeness	politeness	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 expression	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a customary expression				of politeness	tree rules

Option 2

It is a request for the return of the gift

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 request	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 request	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 request	det
4	request	request	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 return	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 return	det
7	return	return	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 request	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 gift	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 gift	det
10	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 return	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a request				for the return of the gift	tree rules
2	return		the gift						nom return «communication intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3

It is an expression of dislike for the recipient

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 expression	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 expression	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 expression	det
4	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 dislike	case
6	dislike	dislike	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 expression	nmod
7	for	for	ADP	_	9 recipient	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 recipient	det
9	recipient	recipient	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 expression	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a expression				of dislike; for the recipient	tree rules

Option 4

It is an accurate assessment of the gift

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 assessment	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 assessment	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 assessment	det
4	accurate	accurate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 assessment	amod
5	assessment	assessment	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 gift	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 gift	det
8	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 assessment	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a accurate assessment				of the gift	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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/e3/