When a Word Has Two Plausible Meanings
A reading text includes the sentence: «Он сказал, что сдал экзамен, но по его лицу было видно, что он что-то скрывает». A question asks what the sentence suggests about the person. One student translates «сдал экзамен» as 'failed the exam', reasoning that the person looks like he is hiding something. Another translates it as 'passed the exam' and treats the hiding as unrelated. The teacher says the verb «сдать» is polysemous in context and that the answer must rest on the whole sentence, not on a guess about the facial expression. The student must resolve the meaning and explain the evidence used.
1. What does «сдал экзамен» mean here, and what evidence in the sentence supports that reading?
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«Сдал экзамен» means 'passed the exam'. The verb «сдать» can mean 'to hand in' or 'to pass' depending on the object; with «экзамен» the standard reading is 'passed'. The clause «он сказал, что…» reports his claim, so the sentence says he claims to have passed. The second clause («по его лицу было видно, что он что-то скрывает») suggests he is hiding something, but does not by itself mean he failed. The evidence for 'passed' is the collocation «сдать экзамен», not the facial expression.
2. How should the student handle the 'hiding something' clause without over-reading it?
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The clause should be reported as an observation, not as proof of failure. A careful answer says: 'He says he passed the exam, but his face suggests he is hiding something.' The text does not state what he is hiding, so inferring failure goes beyond the evidence. The answer earns marks by (a) translating «сдал экзамен» correctly as 'passed', (b) separating the reported claim from the narrator's observation, and (c) refusing to invent a specific hidden fact. This shows control of both vocabulary and inference.