Test 4 · ★★★ · ★★★ Olympiad: hyperbole and downplaying puzzles

★★★ Dad says «a touch of drizzle» about a hurricane, and Gran says «bit of a wait» at a bus stop after twenty minutes. What is different?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: ★, Gran · What happens: say, touch, be · To what, where: touch, bit, bus stop, drizzle · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 4 · ★★★ of lesson 55 «★★★ Olympiad: hyperbole and downplaying puzzles» of the language course of Mova's primary school. 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: ★★★ Dad says «a touch of drizzle» about a hurricane, and Gran says «bit of a wait» at a bus stop after twenty minutes.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	★	★	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 says	nsubj
2	★	★	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 ★	compound
3	★	★	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 ★	appos
4	Dad	dad	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 says	nsubj
5	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	«	«	PUNCT	_	8 touch	punct
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 touch	det
8	touch	touch	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 says	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 drizzle	case
10	drizzle	drizzle	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 touch	nmod
11	»	»	PUNCT	_	8 touch	punct
12	about	about	ADP	_	14 hurricane	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 hurricane	det
14	hurricane	hurricane	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 says	obl
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 says	punct
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 says	cc
17	Gran	Gran	PROPN	Number=Sing	18 says	nsubj
18	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 says	conj
19	«	«	PUNCT	_	20 bit	punct
20	bit	bit	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 says	obj
21	of	of	ADP	_	23 wait	case
22	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	23 wait	det
23	wait	wait	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 bit	nmod
24	»	»	PUNCT	_	20 bit	punct
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	18 says	obl
29	after	after	ADP	_	31 minutes	case
30	twenty	twenty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	31 minutes	nummod
31	minutes	minute	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 says	obl
32	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	★	a touch of drizzle			about a hurricane	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent touch=Topic
2	say speech: assert	present	Gran	bit of a wait	a bus stop	minute		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent bit=Topic
3	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.

Sentence 2: What is different?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 different	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 different	cop
3	different	different	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 different	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present						different property	tree rules

The options

Option 1 · ✓ the right answer

Dad's is a joke he expects you to see through; Gran's is a calm playing-down

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dad	dad	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 joke	nmod:poss
2	's	's	PART	_	1 Dad	case
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 joke	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 joke	det
5	joke	joke	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 expects	nsubj
7	expects	expect	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 joke	acl:relcl
8	you	you	PRON	Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs	7 expects	obj
9	to	to	PART	_	10 see	mark
10	see	see	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 expects	xcomp
11	through	through	ADV	_	10 see	advmod
12	;	;	PUNCT	_	20 down	punct
13	Gran	Gran	PROPN	Number=Sing	20 down	nmod:poss
14	's	's	PART	_	13 Gran	case
15	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	20 down	cop
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	20 down	det
17	calm	calm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 down	amod
18	playing	playing	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 down	compound
19	-	-	PUNCT	_	18 playing	punct
20	down	down	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 joke	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present		Dad's joke		tree rules
2	expect	present	he	you		tree rules
3	see through not said to happen	to-infinitive	you not said here		through property	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
4	is a	present		Gran's calm playing down		tree rules

Option 2

Dad's is understatement, and Gran's is sarcasm meaning the opposite

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dad	dad	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 understatement	nmod:poss
2	's	's	PART	_	1 Dad	case
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 understatement	cop
4	understatement	understatement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 sarcasm	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 sarcasm	cc
7	Gran	Gran	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 sarcasm	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 Gran	case
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 sarcasm	cop
10	sarcasm	sarcasm	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 understatement	appos
11	meaning	mean	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 sarcasm	acl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 opposite	det
13	opposite	opposite	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 meaning	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	is a	present		Dad's understatement	tree rules
2	is a	present		Gran's sarcasm	tree rules
3	mean	gerund	Gran's sarcasm not said here	the opposite	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent opposite=Topic

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Dad believes it is drizzle; Gran believes the wait was short

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dad	dad	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 believes	nsubj
2	believes	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 drizzle	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 drizzle	cop
5	drizzle	drizzle	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 believes	ccomp
6	;	;	PUNCT	_	8 believes	punct
7	Gran	Gran	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 believes	nsubj
8	believes	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 believes	parataxis
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 wait	det
10	wait	wait	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 short	nsubj
11	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 short	cop
12	short	short	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 believes	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	believe	present	Dad			vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer
2	is a	present	it	drizzle		tree rules
3	believe	present	Gran			vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer
4	is	past	the wait		short property	tree rules

Option 4

Both are hyperbole that makes things bigger than they really are

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	3 hyperbole	det
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 hyperbole	cop
3	hyperbole	hyperbole	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 makes	nsubj
5	makes	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 hyperbole	acl:relcl
6	things	thing	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 makes	obj
7	bigger	big	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 makes	xcomp
8	than	than	SCONJ	_	11 are	mark
9	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 are	nsubj
10	really	really	ADV	_	11 are	advmod
11	are	be	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 bigger	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present		both hyperbole		tree rules
2	make	present	both hyperbole	things	big property	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset thing=Product
3	does	present	things = thing			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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/t4/