---
title: Whereas a pupil's report states that the pupil possesses "a vivid im… — Soft words for hard things: school rep… · tree and pragmatics
description: Whereas a pupil's report states that the pupil possesses "a vivid imagination", determine what may in fact be communicated. Exam question 4 of lesson 17 «Soft words for hard things: school reports and teachers and animals and pets» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependen
---

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# Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: school reports and teachers an…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Whereas a pupil's report states that the pupil possesses "a vivid imagination", determine what may in fact be communicated.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** pupil · **What happens:** state, possess, determine, communicate, report · **To what, where:** vivid imagination, fact

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 17 «Soft words for hard things: school reports and teachers and animals and pets» of the euphemisms 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/euphemisms/17-school-and-pets/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:17-school-and-pets:e4:1
# text = Whereas a pupil's report states that the pupil possesses "a vivid imagination", determine what may in fact be communicated.
1	Whereas	whereas	SCONJ	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	pupil	pupil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	report	report	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
6	states	state	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	pupil	pupil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	possesses	possess	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
11	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	vivid	vivid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	imagination	imagination	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	determine	determine	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
18	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	23	obj	_	_
19	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
22	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	communicated	communicate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **state** *speech: other* | present |  |  |  |  |  | whereas a pupil's report | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **possess** | present | the pupil | a vivid imagination |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot imagination=Theme |
| 3 | **determine** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **communicate** | may · passive |  |  |  | fact |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: what=Topic |
| 5 | **report** |  | a pupil |  |  |  |  |  | nom report «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
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 {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pupil excels in visual art

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:17-school-and-pets:e4:o1:1
# text = The pupil excels in visual art
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pupil	pupil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	excels	excel	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	visual	visual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	art	art	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **excel** | present | the pupil |  |  | visual art |  |  | vn succeed-74-1 «NP V PP.eventuality S\_ING»: agent=Agent in art=Eventuality |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pupil tells untruths or daydreams

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:17-school-and-pets:e4:o2:1
# text = The pupil tells untruths or daydreams
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pupil	pupil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	tells	tell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	untruths	untruth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	daydreams	daydream	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | the pupil | untruths or daydreams |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent untruth=Recipient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pupil has exceptional eyesight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:17-school-and-pets:e4:o3:1
# text = The pupil has exceptional eyesight
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pupil	pupil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	exceptional	exceptional	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	eyesight	eyesight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | the pupil | exceptional eyesight |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eyesight=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pupil excels in scientific enquiry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:17-school-and-pets:e4:o4:1
# text = The pupil excels in scientific enquiry
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pupil	pupil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	excels	excel	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	scientific	scientific	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	enquiry	enquiry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **excel** | present | the pupil |  |  | scientific enquiry |  |  | vn succeed-74-1 «NP V PP.eventuality S\_ING»: agent=Agent in enquiry=Eventuality |

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**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.

<!-- /div -->

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