---
title: In a cartoon a man literally bites a bullet at the dentist. What's t… — Idioms taken literally · tree and pragmatics
description: In a cartoon a man literally bites a bullet at the dentist. What's the real meaning of the idiom? Test 6 · ★★ 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 right.
---

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# Test 6 · ★★ · Idioms taken literally

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a cartoon a man literally bites a bullet at the dentist. What's the real meaning of the idiom?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** man, real meaning · **What happens:** bite, be, mean · **To what, where:** bullet, cartoon, idiom

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This is test 6 · ★★ of lesson 25 «Idioms taken literally» 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/25-idioms-taken-literally/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a cartoon a man literally bites a bullet at the dentist.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t6:1
# text = In a cartoon a man literally bites a bullet at the dentist.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	literally	literally	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	bites	bite	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	bullet	bullet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	dentist	dentist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bite** | present | a man | a bullet |  | a cartoon |  | at the dentist; literally *property* | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent bullet=Patient in cartoon=Location |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What's the real meaning of the idiom?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t6:2
# text = What's the real meaning of the idiom?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	idiom	idiom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the real meaning of the idiom |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **mean** |  |  | the idiom |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Shout at the dentist

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t6:o1:1
# text = Shout at the dentist
1	Shout	shout	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	dentist	dentist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shout** *speech: express* | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  | the dentist |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Face something unpleasant bravely

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t6:o2:1
# text = Face something unpleasant bravely
1	Face	face	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	1	obj	_	_
3	unpleasant	unpleasant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
4	bravely	bravely	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **face** | imperative | you *not said here* | something |  |  |  | bravely *property* | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme something=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Eat something metal

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t6:o3:1
# text = Eat something metal
1	Eat	eat	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	3	compound	_	_
3	metal	metal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | imperative | you *not said here* | something metal |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent metal=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Keep your teeth clean and shiny every day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:25-idioms-taken-literally:t6:o4:1
# text = Keep your teeth clean and shiny every day
1	Keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	clean	clean	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	xcomp	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	shiny	shiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
7	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | imperative | you *not said here* | your teeth |  |  | day | clean *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tooth=Theme |

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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.

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- ← previous: [Idioms taken literally, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/25-idioms-taken-literally/t5/)
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