Test 10 · ★★ · Soft words for hard things: money and poverty and work, fi…
The shop owner sighs: "Bit of a cash flow problem, lads, wages next week." What is going on?
Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: shop owner · What happens: sigh, wage, go on · To what, where: Bit
This is test 10 · ★★ of lesson 20 «Soft words for hard things: money and poverty and work, firing and the economy» of the euphemisms 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: The shop owner sighs: "Bit of a cash flow problem, lads, wages next week."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 owner | det |
| 2 | shop | shop | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 owner | compound |
| 3 | owner | owner | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 sighs | nsubj |
| 4 | sighs | sigh | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 7 Bit | punct |
| 6 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 Bit | punct |
| 7 | Bit | bit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 sighs | obl |
| 8 | of | of | ADP | _ | 12 problem | case |
| 9 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 12 problem | det |
| 10 | cash | cash | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 flow | compound |
| 11 | flow | flow | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 problem | compound |
| 12 | problem | problem | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 Bit | nmod |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 lads | punct |
| 14 | lads | lad | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 Bit | conj |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 wages | punct |
| 16 | wages | wage | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 sighs | conj |
| 17 | next | next | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 week | amod |
| 18 | week | week | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 wages | obl:unmarked |
| 19 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 sighs | punct |
| 20 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 sighs | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | sigh | present | the shop owner | Bit of a flow problem and lads | vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | wage in a quote | present | the shop owner not said here | week | 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.
Sentence 2: What is going on?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 3 going | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 going | aux |
| 3 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 4 | on | on | ADP | _ | 3 going | compound:prt |
| 5 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 3 going | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go on | present · progressive | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
The options
Option 1
The till is broken
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 till | det |
| 2 | till | till | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 broken | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 broken | aux:pass |
| 4 | broken | break | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | break | present · passive | the till | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
He cannot pay the wages now
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 pay | nsubj |
| 2 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 pay | aux |
| 3 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 4 pay | advmod |
| 4 | pay | pay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 wages | det |
| 6 | wages | wage | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 pay | obj |
| 7 | now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 pay | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not pay | can | He | the wages | now | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wage=Asset |
Option 3
He is giving a bonus
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 giving | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 giving | aux |
| 3 | giving | give | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 bonus | det |
| 5 | bonus | bonus | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 giving | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | give | present · progressive | He | a bonus | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bonus=Theme |
Option 4
The shop is closing for good
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 shop | det |
| 2 | shop | shop | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 closing | nsubj |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 closing | aux |
| 4 | closing | close | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 5 | for | for | ADP | _ | 6 good | case |
| 6 | good | good | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 closing | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | close | present · progressive | the shop | for good | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
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/20-debt-and-jobs/t10/