---
title: ★★★ In which sentence is «starving» NOT hyperbole? — ★★★ Olympiad: hyperbole and downplayin… · tree and pragmatics
description: ★★★ In which sentence is «starving» NOT hyperbole? Test 7 · ★★★ of lesson 55 «★★★ Olympiad: hyperbole and downplaying puzzles» 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 7 · ★★★ · ★★★ Olympiad: hyperbole and downplaying puzzles

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
★★★ In which sentence is «starving» NOT hyperbole?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** ★ ★ ★ · **What happens:** starve · **To what, where:** hyperbole

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★★★ of lesson 55 «★★★ Olympiad: hyperbole and downplaying puzzles» 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/55-olympiad-hyperbole-and-downplaying-puzzles/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:55-olympiad-hyperbole-and-downplaying-puzzles:t7:1
# text = ★★★ In which sentence is «starving» NOT hyperbole?
1	★	★	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	★	★	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	★	★	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
4	In	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	6	det	_	_
6	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
11	NOT	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	hyperbole	hyperbole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **starve** *in a quote* | present · progressive | ★ ★ ★ in which sentence | hyperbole |  |  |  |  | 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«In the famine, people were starving for weeks»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:55-olympiad-hyperbole-and-downplaying-puzzles:t7:o1:1
# text = «In the famine, people were starving for weeks»
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	In	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	famine	famine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	weeks	week	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **starve** *in a quote* | past · progressive | people |  |  | the famine | week |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«Starving! I haven't eaten anything since morning break»

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «Starving!

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:55-olympiad-hyperbole-and-downplaying-puzzles:t7:o2:1
# text = «Starving!
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **starve** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* I haven't eaten anything since morning break»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:55-olympiad-hyperbole-and-downplaying-puzzles:t7:o2:2
# text = I haven't eaten anything since morning break»
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obj	_	_
6	since	since	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	break	break	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **eat** | present · perfect | I | anything |  |  | since morning break |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«Mum, I'm starving, when's tea?»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:55-olympiad-hyperbole-and-downplaying-puzzles:t7:o3:1
# text = «Mum, I'm starving, when's tea?»
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Mum	mum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	'm	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	10	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	tea	tea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **starve** *in a quote* | present · progressive | I |  |  |  |  | Mum *vocative* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«I'm starving, lunch was ages ago»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:55-olympiad-hyperbole-and-downplaying-puzzles:t7:o4:1
# text = «I'm starving, lunch was ages ago»
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	'm	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	lunch	lunch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	ages	age	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl:unmarked	_	_
9	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **starve** *in a quote* | present · progressive | I | lunch |  |  |  | ago *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | past |  | ages |  |  |  |  | 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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- ← previous: [★★★ Olympiad: hyperbole and downplayin…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/55-olympiad-hyperbole-and-downplaying-puzzles/t6/)
- next →: [★★★ Olympiad: hyperbole and downplayin…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/55-olympiad-hyperbole-and-downplaying-puzzles/t8/)
- ↑ back to [★★★ Olympiad: hyperbole and downplaying puzzles](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/55-olympiad-hyperbole-and-downplaying-puzzles/)