Exam question 1 · Where money comes from

Which of the following most accurately characterises the distinction between a salary and wages?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: distinction

This is exam question 1 of lesson 5 «Where money comes from» of the adult life 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.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 characterises	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 characterises	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 characterises	csubj
5	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	6 accurately	advmod
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	7 characterises	advmod
7	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 distinction	det
9	distinction	distinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 characterises	obj
10	between	between	ADP	_	12 salary	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 salary	det
12	salary	salary	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 distinction	nmod
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 wages	cc
14	wages	wage	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 salary	conj
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 characterises	punct

#	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		the distinction				between a salary and wages; accurately property	tree rules

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

Option 1

Both are sums paid exclusively upon retirement

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	3 sums	det
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 sums	cop
3	sums	sum	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	paid	pay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 sums	acl
5	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	4 paid	advmod
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 retirement	case
7	retirement	retirement	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 paid	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present		both sums					tree rules
2	pay	participle		both sums not said here				exclusively property	vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

A salary is a fixed annual sum paid in instalments; wages vary with the hours worked

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 salary	det
2	salary	salary	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 sum	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 sum	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 sum	det
5	fixed	fix	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 sum	amod
6	annual	annual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 sum	amod
7	sum	sum	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	paid	pay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 sum	acl
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 instalments	case
10	instalments	instalment	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 paid	obl
11	;	;	PUNCT	_	13 vary	punct
12	wages	wage	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 vary	nsubj
13	vary	vary	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 sum	parataxis
14	with	with	ADP	_	16 hours	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 hours	det
16	hours	hour	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 worked	obl
17	worked	work	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 vary	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	roles by
1	fix	participle					vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	is a	present	a salary	a fixed annual sum			tree rules
3	pay	participle		a fixed annual sum not said here	instalments		vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	vary	present	wages				tree rules
5	work	past	wages not said here			hour	vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

A salary varies with the hours worked; wages are a fixed annual sum paid in instalments

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 salary	det
2	salary	salary	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 varies	nsubj
3	varies	vary	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 hours	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 hours	det
6	hours	hour	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 worked	obl
7	worked	work	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 varies	ccomp
8	;	;	PUNCT	_	14 sum	punct
9	wages	wage	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 sum	nsubj
10	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 sum	cop
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 sum	det
12	fixed	fix	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 sum	amod
13	annual	annual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 sum	amod
14	sum	sum	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 varies	parataxis
15	paid	pay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 sum	acl
16	in	in	ADP	_	17 instalments	case
17	instalments	instalment	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 paid	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	roles by
1	vary	present	a salary				tree rules
2	work	past	a salary not said here			hour	vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	fix	participle					vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
4	is a	present	wages	a fixed annual sum			tree rules
5	pay	participle		a fixed annual sum not said here	instalments		vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

A salary is paid by the government; wages are paid by the employer

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 salary	det
2	salary	salary	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 paid	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 paid	aux:pass
4	paid	pay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 government	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 government	det
7	government	government	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 paid	obl:agent
8	;	;	PUNCT	_	11 paid	punct
9	wages	wage	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 paid	nsubj:pass
10	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 paid	aux:pass
11	paid	pay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 paid	conj
12	by	by	ADP	_	14 employer	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 employer	det
14	employer	employer	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 paid	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pay	present · passive	the government	a salary					vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Asset
2	pay	present · passive	the employer	wages					vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Asset

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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