Exam question 4 · ★★★ Olympiad: hyperbole and downplaying puzzles
A swimming instructor remarks «Not bad for a beginner». Select the response consistent with the established meaning of the remark.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: swimming instructor, you · What happens: remark, select, establish, mean · To what, where: bad, response, remark
This is exam question 4 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
Sentence 1: A swimming instructor remarks «Not bad for a beginner».
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 instructor | det |
| 2 | swimming | swimming | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 instructor | compound |
| 3 | instructor | instructor | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 remarks | nsubj |
| 4 | remarks | remark | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | « | « | PUNCT | _ | 7 bad | punct |
| 6 | Not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 7 bad | advmod |
| 7 | bad | bad | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 remarks | obj |
| 8 | for | for | ADP | _ | 10 beginner | case |
| 9 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 10 beginner | det |
| 10 | beginner | beginner | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 bad | obl |
| 11 | » | » | PUNCT | _ | 7 bad | punct |
| 12 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 remarks | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | remark speech: assert | present | a swimming instructor | bad | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent bad=Topic |
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.
Sentence 2: Select the response consistent with the established meaning of the remark.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Select | select | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 response | det |
| 3 | response | response | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Select | obj |
| 4 | consistent | consistent | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 response | amod |
| 5 | with | with | ADP | _ | 8 meaning | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 meaning | det |
| 7 | established | establish | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 meaning | amod |
| 8 | meaning | meaning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 consistent | obl |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 11 remark | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 remark | det |
| 11 | remark | remark | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 meaning | nmod |
| 12 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Select | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | select | imperative | you not said here | the response | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme | ||||
| 2 | establish | participle | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot | ||||||
| 3 | mean | the remark | nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Unqualified praise implying that instruction is complete
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unqualified | unqualified | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 praise | amod |
| 2 | praise | praise | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 complete | nsubj |
| 3 | implying | imply | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 2 praise | acl |
| 4 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 5 instruction | det |
| 5 | instruction | instruction | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 implying | obj |
| 6 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 complete | cop |
| 7 | complete | complete | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | imply | gerund | Unqualified praise not said here | that instruction | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot instruction=Topic | ||||
| 2 | is | present | Unqualified praise | complete property | tree rules |
Option 2
Unqualified condemnation of the performance
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unqualified | unqualified | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 condemnation | amod |
| 2 | condemnation | condemnation | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 performance | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 performance | det |
| 5 | performance | performance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 condemnation | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | condemn | the performance | nom condemnation «communication transitive»: of=patient |
Option 3
A recommendation that the pupil discontinue swimming
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 recommendation | det |
| 2 | recommendation | recommendation | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 6 discontinue | mark |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 pupil | det |
| 5 | pupil | pupil | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 discontinue | nsubj |
| 6 | discontinue | discontinue | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 recommendation | acl |
| 7 | swimming | swimming | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 discontinue | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | discontinue | infinitive | the pupil | swimming | vn stop-55.4 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector swimming=Eventuality |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
Praise qualified by the expectation of further improvement
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Praise | praise | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 2 | qualified | qualify | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 1 Praise | acl |
| 3 | by | by | ADP | _ | 5 expectation | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 expectation | det |
| 5 | expectation | expectation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 qualified | obl |
| 6 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 improvement | case |
| 7 | further | further | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 improvement | amod |
| 8 | improvement | improvement | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 expectation | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | qualify | participle | Praise not said here | by the expectation of further improvement | vn masquerade-29.6 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | expect | further improvement | nom expectation «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
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/e4/