Test 3 · ★ · When money is tight
Dad, reading the news: "Prices up a lot this year, my pay up only a little." What has happened to the family?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: read, pay up, happen · To what, where: news, little
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 9 «When money is tight» of the adult life 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.
The question
Sentence 1: Dad, reading the news: "Prices up a lot this year, my pay up only a little."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dad | dad | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 reading | punct |
| 3 | reading | read | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 1 Dad | conj |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 news | det |
| 5 | news | news | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 reading | obj |
| 6 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 8 Prices | punct |
| 7 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 Prices | punct |
| 8 | Prices | price | NOUN | Number=Plur | 1 Dad | parataxis |
| 9 | up | up | ADP | _ | 8 Prices | compound:prt |
| 10 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 lot | det |
| 11 | lot | lot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 Prices | conj |
| 12 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 13 year | det |
| 13 | year | year | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 lot | nmod:unmarked |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 pay | punct |
| 15 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 16 pay | nmod:poss |
| 16 | pay | pay | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 8 Prices | parataxis |
| 17 | up | up | ADP | _ | 16 pay | compound:prt |
| 18 | only | only | ADV | _ | 20 little | advmod |
| 19 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 little | det |
| 20 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 pay | obl:unmarked |
| 21 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 16 pay | punct |
| 22 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 16 pay | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | read | gerund | the news | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent news=Topic | |||||
| 2 | pay up in a quote | infinitive | a little | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
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.
Sentence 2: What has happened to the family?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 3 happened | nsubj |
| 2 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 happened | aux |
| 3 | happened | happen | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 6 family | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 family | det |
| 6 | family | family | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 happened | obl |
| 7 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 3 happened | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | happen | present · perfect | to the family | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
They pay less tax because prices rose
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 pay | nsubj |
| 2 | pay | pay | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | less | less | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 4 tax | amod |
| 4 | tax | tax | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 pay | obj |
| 5 | because | because | SCONJ | _ | 7 rose | mark |
| 6 | prices | price | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 rose | nsubj |
| 7 | rose | rise | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 pay | advcl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pay | present | They | less tax | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tax=Asset | ||||
| 2 | rise | past | prices | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
Option 2
They are better off, because their pay went up as well
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 better | nsubj |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 better | cop |
| 3 | better | good | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | root | root |
| 4 | off | off | ADP | _ | 3 better | compound:prt |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 went | punct |
| 6 | because | because | SCONJ | _ | 9 went | mark |
| 7 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 8 pay | nmod:poss |
| 8 | pay | pay | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 went | nsubj |
| 9 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 better | conj |
| 10 | up | up | ADP | _ | 9 went | compound:prt |
| 11 | as | as | ADV | ExtPos=ADV | 9 went | advmod |
| 12 | well | well | ADV | Degree=Pos | 11 as | fixed |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | They | good property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | go up | past | their pay | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | |||||
| 3 | pay | their = they | nom pay «possession transitive»: poss=agent |
Option 3
Nothing changes, because pay went up
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 2 changes | nsubj |
| 2 | changes | change | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 went | punct |
| 4 | because | because | SCONJ | _ | 6 went | mark |
| 5 | pay | pay | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 went | nsubj |
| 6 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 changes | ccomp |
| 7 | up | up | ADP | _ | 6 went | compound:prt |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | change | present | Nothing | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | go up | past | pay | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
They are worse off, as prices rose faster than pay
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 worse | nsubj |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 worse | cop |
| 3 | worse | bad | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | root | root |
| 4 | off | off | ADV | _ | 3 worse | advmod |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 rose | punct |
| 6 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 8 rose | mark |
| 7 | prices | price | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 rose | nsubj |
| 8 | rose | rise | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 worse | conj |
| 9 | faster | fast | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 8 rose | advmod |
| 10 | than | than | ADP | _ | 11 pay | case |
| 11 | pay | pay | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 faster | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | They | bad, off property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | rise | past | prices | fast property | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/9-when-money-is-tight/t3/