★★★ Olympiad: hyperbole and downplaying puzzles
Tests: 4 of 12 right · Exam: 0 of 4 right · Kind: ★★★ · Understood: 6 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 55 of the language course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · ★★★ · wrong ✗
★★★ «Mum's said a hundred times her sister is 4 years older than her. Mum is 38. How old is her sister?»
- 1. 138 — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. 42 — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. 104 — no support
- 4. 34 — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★★★ · wrong ✗
★★★ Gran «has told me a thousand times» she was born in 1950. In which year will she turn 80?
- 1. 2080 — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. 2050 — no support
- 3. 2030 — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. 1030 — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★★★ · wrong ✗
★★★ Jamal: «like a hundred keepy-uppies, well, 23». Next day: «I smashed it, like a million, no, 31». By how many did he beat his record?
- 1. 54 — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. 69 — no support
- 3. 999,977 — no support
- 4. 8 — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★★★ · wrong ✗
★★★ 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?
- 1. Dad's is a joke he expects you to see through; Gran's is a calm playing-down — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Dad's is understatement, and Gran's is sarcasm meaning the opposite — no support
- 3. Dad believes it is drizzle; Gran believes the wait was short — ← Mova's choice · score 5
- 4. Both are hyperbole that makes things bigger than they really are — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 30, line 2: «Ava sends her gran a 💀 because a video is hilarious ("I'm dead, that's so funny"), and Gran rings in a panic thinking someone has died; the same picture meant…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «think» (+5). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★★★ · right ✓
★★★ Gran says «It's not that I don't like it, pet…» and stops. Mum says «I'm not unhappy with it». Who liked the dish more?
- 1. Gran — score 4
- 2. Both the same — no support
- 3. Neither of them — no support
- 4. Mum — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 7, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 53, line 1: «Every language exaggerates and plays things down, but each one picks its own pictures. An English mum has told you «a million times», a Spanish mum «a thousand…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «english mum» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★★★ · wrong ✗
★★★ «Over 1 million visitors» and «A MILLION reasons to love summer». A friend says «both say a million, so both are hype». What is the flaw?
- 1. The same number can be measured in one and a feeling in the other — ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 2. Neither is a number, because «million» is just a word — ← Mova's choice · score 7
- 3. Both are hype, because big numbers are always exaggeration — no support
- 4. Both are measured, since a million is always a real number — score 7
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 55, line 8: ««Over 1 million people visited the museum this year» is a measured number tied to a place and a time; «A MILLION reasons to love summer!» is a feeling dressed…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same thing acted on «measured number» (+3). The right option, 1, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★★★ · right ✓
★★★ In which sentence is «starving» NOT hyperbole?
- 1. «In the famine, people were starving for weeks» — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. «Starving! I haven't eaten anything since morning break» — no support
- 3. «Mum, I'm starving, when's tea?» — no support
- 4. «I'm starving, lunch was ages ago» — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★★★ · right ✓
★★★ «u nesh or what, it's nobbut a bit fresh» says Grandad. It's 12 degrees. Which reply shows you understood?
- 1. «I'm not ill, Grandad, I haven't got a cold» — score 6
- 2. «You're right, it's freezing, I'll stay in» — score 4
- 3. «I just feel the cold, Grandad, I'll keep my coat» — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
- 4. «What's a nesh? Is it a kind of coat?» — score 4
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 8, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 55, line 10: «In Yorkshire, «nesh» means someone who feels the cold easily, and «nobbut a bit fresh» means «only slightly cool»; a grandad saying «you're nesh, you» is teasi…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «feel» (+4); the same thing acted on «cold» (+4). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★★★ · wrong ✗
★★★ Max: «I may have slightly broken the window». Lucy's neighbour: «it's nothing much». Both play things down. Which one should you NOT copy?
- 1. Neither, because both are perfectly polite and kind — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Mrs Tanaka's, because playing down a gift is always rude — no support
- 3. Both, because playing anything down is always lying — no support
- 4. Max's, because he plays down his own mistake to dodge trouble — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★★★ · wrong ✗
★★★ «Could be worse», said after a 6–0 defeat, and «Not bad for a beginner», said after a first length. Which is praise?
- 1. Both of them — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Neither of them is any kind of praise — no support
- 3. «Not bad for a beginner» — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. «Could be worse» — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★★★ · wrong ✗
★★★ «Wah confirm one hour lah» about a queue of 10 people, each served in 2 minutes. About how long is the real wait?
- 1. About one hour — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. About two hours — no support
- 3. About 20 minutes — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. About 10 minutes — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 12 · ★★★ · right ✓
★★★ Leo, wrapped in a big coat on a mild day, hears «you're nesh». Ruby, in a T-shirt in the snow, hears «bit nippy out, innit». Who is dressed wrongly for the weather?
- 1. Ruby — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 2. Both — no support
- 3. Leo — no support
- 4. Neither — no support
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 37, line 2: «Ruby's teacher writes "unhappiness" on the board; Ruby spots three carriages: "un-" (not), "happy" (the root, with its y turned to i) and "-ness" (which turns…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «ruby» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗
It is given that a grandmother «has told me a thousand times» that she was born in 1950. Determine her age in the year 2000.
- 1. One thousand years — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Nine hundred and fifty years — no support
- 3. One thousand and fifty years — no support
- 4. Fifty years — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the remark «a touch of drizzle», delivered without expression by a parent viewing a hurricane?
- 1. A literal description of light rain — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Hyperbole, magnifying the importance of a minor shower — no support
- 3. A meteorological forecast — no support
- 4. Sarcastic understatement, intended as a jest — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗
Identify the principal reason for which the word «starving» constitutes hyperbole in one context and a literal statement in another.
- 1. The circumstances determine whether the word exceeds or matches the facts — ✓ the right answer · score 5
- 2. The word bears a different spelling in works of history — no support
- 3. The word is invariably employed as hyperbole — ← Mova's choice · score 8
- 4. The word is invariably employed literally — score 6
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 8, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 47, line 1: «Adverts and headlines use hyperbole for a job: to make you buy, click or read. «The BEST breakfast EVER!», «SHOCKING!!! You WON'T BELIEVE what happened next»,…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «use» (+5); the same circumstance (+2); the same thing acted on «hyperbole» (+1). The right option, 1, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
A swimming instructor remarks «Not bad for a beginner». Select the response consistent with the established meaning of the remark.
- 1. Unqualified praise implying that instruction is complete — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Unqualified condemnation of the performance — no support
- 3. A recommendation that the pupil discontinue swimming — no support
- 4. Praise qualified by the expectation of further improvement — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/55-olympiad-hyperbole-and-downplaying-puzzles/