---
title: Which of the following expressions most accurately characterises a p… — Soft words for hard things: stupidity… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following expressions most accurately characterises a person as having become insane? Exam question 4 of lesson 36 «Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each o
---

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# Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following expressions most accurately characterises a person as having become insane?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris, become · **To what, where:** person

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 36 «Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness» 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/36-dim-and-round-the-bend/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:36-dim-and-round-the-bend:e4:1
# text = Which of the following expressions most accurately characterises a person as having become insane?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	expressions	expression	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	aux	_	_
13	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
14	insane	insane	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | a person |  |  |  | of the following expressions; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **become** | gerund · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | insane *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is not the most academic

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:36-dim-and-round-the-bend:e4:o1:1
# text = He is not the most academic
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	6	advmod	_	_
6	academic	academic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | He |  |  |  |  | academic *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He has lost his marbles

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:36-dim-and-round-the-bend:e4:o2:1
# text = He has lost his marbles
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	marbles	marble	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | present · perfect | He | his marbles |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent marble=Eventuality |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He marches to a different drum

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:36-dim-and-round-the-bend:e4:o3:1
# text = He marches to a different drum
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	marches	march	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **march** | present | He |  |  | a different drum |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to drum=Destination |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is a real character

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:36-dim-and-round-the-bend:e4:o4:1
# text = He is a real character
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	character	character	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | He | a real character |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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