---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises an i… — Idioms taken literally · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises an idiom? Exam question 1 of lesson 25 «Idioms taken literally» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Exam question 1 · Idioms taken literally

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises an idiom?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** idiom

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 25 «Idioms taken literally» 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/25-idioms-taken-literally/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises an idiom?
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	statements	statement	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	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	idiom	idiom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	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 idiom |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
A grammatical error tolerated in informal speech

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:e1:o1:1
# text = A grammatical error tolerated in informal speech
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	grammatical	grammatical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	error	error	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	tolerated	tolerate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	informal	informal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	speech	speech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tolerate** | participle |  | a grammatical error *not said here* |  | informal speech |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A word whose spelling is identical when reversed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:e1:o2:1
# text = A word whose spelling is identical when reversed
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	spelling	spelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	identical	identical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
8	reversed	reverse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a word |  |  |  |  | identical *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **reverse** | participle | a word *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A fixed expression whose meaning is not derivable from the literal meanings of its constituent words

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:e1:o3:1
# text = A fixed expression whose meaning is not derivable from the literal meanings of its constituent words
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	fixed	fix	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	expression	expression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	derivable	derivable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	literal	literal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	meanings	meaning	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
15	constituent	constituent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fix** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **is** | present | a fixed expression  a fixed expression  a fixed expression's meaning's meaning |  |  | the literal meanings of expression's constituent words |  | derivable *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **mean** |  | a fixed expression  a fixed expression  meaning's meaning |  |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 4 | **mean** |  |  | expression's constituent words |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 5 | **word** |  | expression |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A word borrowed from another language without alteration

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:e1:o4:1
# text = A word borrowed from another language without alteration
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	borrowed	borrow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	without	without	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	alteration	alteration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **borrow** | participle |  | a word *not said here* |  | another language |  | without alteration | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent from language=Source |

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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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