Test 7 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy
A delivery firm calls its riders "independent contractors". What does this usually mean for the riders?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: delivery firm · What happens: call, mean · To what, where: riders · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 7 · ★ 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: A delivery firm calls its riders "independent contractors".
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 firm | det |
| 2 | delivery | delivery | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 firm | compound |
| 3 | firm | firm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 calls | nsubj |
| 4 | calls | call | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 riders | nmod:poss |
| 6 | riders | rider | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 calls | obj |
| 7 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 riders | punct |
| 8 | independent | independent | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 contractors | amod |
| 9 | contractors | contractor | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 calls | obj |
| 10 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 9 contractors | punct |
| 11 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 calls | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | call | present | a delivery firm | firm's riders | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent rider=Theme contractor=Result |
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 does this usually mean for the riders?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 5 mean | obj |
| 2 | does | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 mean | aux |
| 3 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 2 does | obj |
| 4 | usually | usually | ADV | _ | 5 mean | advmod |
| 5 | mean | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | for | for | ADP | _ | 8 riders | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 riders | det |
| 8 | riders | rider | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 mean | obl |
| 9 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 5 mean | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mean | present · do-support | for the riders; usually property | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot what=Theme for rider=Attribute |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
A higher wage than ordinary staff
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 wage | det |
| 2 | higher | high | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 3 wage | amod |
| 3 | wage | wage | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | than | than | ADP | _ | 6 staff | case |
| 5 | ordinary | ordinary | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 staff | amod |
| 6 | staff | staff | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 wage | nmod |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 2
A company car and a pension
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 car | det |
| 2 | company | company | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 car | compound |
| 3 | car | car | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 6 pension | cc |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 pension | det |
| 6 | pension | pension | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 car | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
No sick pay, holiday pay or job security
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 3 pay | det |
| 2 | sick | sick | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 pay | amod |
| 3 | pay | pay | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 pay | punct |
| 5 | holiday | holiday | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 pay | compound |
| 6 | pay | pay | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 pay | appos |
| 7 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 9 security | cc |
| 8 | job | job | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 security | compound |
| 9 | security | security | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 pay | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4
The right to choose their own bosses
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 right | det |
| 2 | right | right | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | to | to | PART | _ | 4 choose | mark |
| 4 | choose | choose | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 right | acl |
| 5 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 7 bosses | nmod:poss |
| 6 | own | own | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 bosses | amod |
| 7 | bosses | boss | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 choose | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | choose | to-infinitive | their own bosses | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boss=Theme |
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/t7/