Exam question 1 · Soft words for hard things: money and poverty

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a household described as "in straitened circumstances"?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, describe, straiten · To what, where: household

This is exam question 1 of lesson 19 «Soft words for hard things: money and poverty» of the euphemisms 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	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 household	det
10	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 household	acl
12	as	as	ADP	_	16 circumstances	case
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 circumstances	punct
14	in	in	ADP	_	16 circumstances	case
15	straitened	straiten	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 circumstances	amod
16	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 described	obl
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 circumstances	punct
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	a household	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	describe	participle	a household not said here	as straitened circumstances	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent as circumstance=Attribute
4	straiten in a quote	participle			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 · ← Mova's choice

The household is confined to a narrow space

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 household	det
2	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 confined	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 confined	aux:pass
4	confined	confine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	8 space	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 space	det
7	narrow	narrow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 space	amod
8	space	space	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 confined	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	confine	present · passive		the household		a narrow space			vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to space=Destination

Option 2

The household is exceptionally well organised

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 household	det
2	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 organised	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 organised	aux:pass
4	exceptionally	exceptionally	ADV	_	6 organised	advmod
5	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	6 organised	advmod
6	organised	organise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	organise	present · passive		the household				exceptionally, well property	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The household is poor and short of money

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 household	det
2	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 poor	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 poor	cop
4	poor	poor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 short	cc
6	short	short	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 poor	conj
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 money	case
8	money	money	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 short	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the household					poor property	tree rules
2	be		the household not said here					of money	tree rules

Option 4

The household is situated on a straight road

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 household	det
2	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 situated	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 situated	aux:pass
4	situated	situate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	on	on	ADP	_	8 road	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 road	det
7	straight	straight	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 road	amod
8	road	road	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 situated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	situate	present · passive		the household		a straight road			vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme on road=Destination

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/euphemisms/19-money-and-poverty/e1/