Test 2 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy
Gossip at the school gate: "Her dad's been on garden leave since March." What is really going on?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Gossip · What happens: be, go on · To what, where: garden leave
This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 21 «Soft words for hard things: 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: Gossip at the school gate: "Her dad's been on garden leave since March."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gossip | gossip | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 leave | nsubj |
| 2 | at | at | ADP | _ | 5 gate | case |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 gate | det |
| 4 | school | school | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 gate | compound |
| 5 | gate | gate | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Gossip | nmod |
| 6 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 14 leave | punct |
| 7 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 14 leave | punct |
| 8 | Her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 9 dad | nmod:poss |
| 9 | dad | dad | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 leave | nsubj |
| 10 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 14 leave | cop |
| 11 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 14 leave | cop |
| 12 | on | on | ADP | _ | 13 garden | case |
| 13 | garden | garden | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 leave | compound |
| 14 | leave | leave | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 15 | since | since | ADP | _ | 16 March | case |
| 16 | March | March | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 leave | nmod |
| 17 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 14 leave | punct |
| 18 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 14 leave | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a in a quote | present | Gossip at the school gate | garden leave | march | 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 really going on?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 4 going | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 going | aux |
| 3 | really | really | ADV | _ | 4 going | advmod |
| 4 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 5 | on | on | ADP | _ | 4 going | compound:prt |
| 6 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 4 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 · ← Mova's choice
He is on a long paid holiday abroad
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 | 7 holiday | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 holiday | cop |
| 3 | on | on | ADP | _ | 7 holiday | case |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 holiday | det |
| 5 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 holiday | amod |
| 6 | paid | pay | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 7 holiday | amod |
| 7 | holiday | holiday | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 8 | abroad | abroad | ADV | _ | 7 holiday | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pay | participle | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 2 | is | present | He | a long paid holiday | abroad property | tree rules |
Option 2
He has been planting a new garden at work
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 planting | nsubj |
| 2 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 planting | aux |
| 3 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 4 planting | aux |
| 4 | planting | plant | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 garden | det |
| 6 | new | new | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 garden | amod |
| 7 | garden | garden | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 planting | obj |
| 8 | at | at | ADP | _ | 9 work | case |
| 9 | work | work | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 planting | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | plant | present · perfect · progressive | He | a new garden | work | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent garden=Theme at work=Destination |
Option 3
He has been off sick with a bad back
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 | 5 sick | nsubj |
| 2 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 sick | aux |
| 3 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 5 sick | cop |
| 4 | off | off | ADP | _ | 5 sick | case |
| 5 | sick | sick | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 6 | with | with | ADP | _ | 9 back | case |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 back | det |
| 8 | bad | bad | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 back | amod |
| 9 | back | back | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 sick | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present · perfect | He | with a bad back; sick property | tree rules |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
He is paid to stay home until his notice ends
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 paid | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 paid | aux:pass |
| 3 | paid | pay | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | PART | _ | 5 stay | mark |
| 5 | stay | stay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 paid | xcomp |
| 6 | home | home | ADV | _ | 5 stay | advmod |
| 7 | until | until | SCONJ | _ | 10 ends | mark |
| 8 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 9 notice | nmod:poss |
| 9 | notice | notice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 ends | nsubj |
| 10 | ends | end | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 stay | advcl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pay | present · passive | He | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | stay | to-infinitive | home property | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | end | present | his notice | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | |||||
| 4 | notice | his = he | nom notice «communication transitive»: poss=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/euphemisms/21-work-firing-and-the-economy/t2/