Exam question 2 · ★★★ Olympiad: hyperbole and downplaying puzzles

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the remark «a touch of drizzle», delivered without expression by a parent viewing a hurricane?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: parent · What happens: follow, characteris, deliver, view, touch · To what, where: remark, hurricane, drizzle

This is exam question 2 of lesson 55 «★★★ Olympiad: hyperbole and downplaying puzzles» 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 remark	det
10	remark	remark	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	«	«	PUNCT	_	13 touch	punct
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 touch	det
13	touch	touch	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 remark	appos
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 drizzle	case
15	drizzle	drizzle	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 touch	nmod
16	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 touch	punct
17	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 delivered	punct
18	delivered	deliver	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 remark	acl
19	without	without	ADP	_	20 expression	case
20	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 delivered	obl
21	by	by	ADP	_	23 parent	case
22	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	23 parent	det
23	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 delivered	obl
24	viewing	view	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	23 parent	acl
25	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	26 hurricane	det
26	hurricane	hurricane	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 viewing	obj
27	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the remark	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	deliver	participle		the remark not said here	without expression; by a parent	vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	view	gerund	a parent not said here	a hurricane		vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hurricane=Stimulus
5	touch in a quote			drizzle		nom touch «event 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

A literal description of light rain

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 description	det
2	literal	literal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 description	amod
3	description	description	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 rain	case
5	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 rain	compound
6	rain	rain	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 description	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	describe			light rain					nom description «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

Hyperbole, magnifying the importance of a minor shower

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Hyperbole	hyperbole	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 magnifying	punct
3	magnifying	magnify	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Hyperbole	conj
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 importance	det
5	importance	importance	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 magnifying	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 shower	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 shower	det
8	minor	minor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 shower	amod
9	shower	shower	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 importance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	magnify	gerund		the importance of a minor shower					vn remedy-45.7-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent importance=Patient

Option 3

A meteorological forecast

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 forecast	det
2	meteorological	meteorological	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 forecast	amod
3	forecast	forecast	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

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

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Sarcastic understatement, intended as a jest

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sarcastic	sarcastic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 understatement	amod
2	understatement	understatement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 intended	punct
4	intended	intend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 understatement	acl
5	as	as	ADP	_	7 jest	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 jest	det
7	jest	jest	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 intended	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	intend	participle		Sarcastic understatement not said here				as a jest	vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as jest=Attribute

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/55-olympiad-hyperbole-and-downplaying-puzzles/e2/