Exam question 3 · Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises an economy described as experiencing "negative growth"?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, describe, experience · To what, where: economy, negative growth

This is exam question 3 of lesson 21 «Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy» 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	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 economy	det
10	economy	economy	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 economy	acl
12	as	as	SCONJ	_	13 experiencing	mark
13	experiencing	experience	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	11 described	advcl
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 growth	punct
15	negative	negative	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 growth	amod
16	growth	growth	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 experiencing	obj
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 growth	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 economy	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	describe	participle	a economy not said here		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
4	experience	gerund	negative growth		vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer growth=Stimulus

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

Its total output has increased modestly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 output	nmod:poss
2	total	total	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 output	amod
3	output	output	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 increased	nsubj:pass
4	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 increased	aux
5	increased	increase	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	modestly	modestly	ADV	_	5 increased	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	increase	present · perfect · passive		Its total output				modestly property	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient

Option 2

Its prices have risen substantially

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 prices	nmod:poss
2	prices	price	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 risen	nsubj
3	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 risen	aux
4	risen	rise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	substantially	substantially	ADV	_	4 risen	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rise	present · perfect	Its prices					substantially property	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Its growth has been detrimental to the environment

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 growth	nmod:poss
2	growth	growth	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 detrimental	nsubj
3	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 detrimental	aux
4	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	5 detrimental	cop
5	detrimental	detrimental	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 environment	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 environment	det
8	environment	environment	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 detrimental	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present · perfect	Its growth					to the environment; detrimental property	tree rules
2	grow		Its = it						nom growth «process intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Its total output has diminished

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 output	nmod:poss
2	total	total	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 output	amod
3	output	output	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 diminished	nsubj:pass
4	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 diminished	aux
5	diminished	diminish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	diminish	present · perfect · passive		Its total output					vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=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/21-work-firing-and-the-economy/e3/