Exam question 2 · Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy a…
It is given that a retailer announces a "price adjustment" in respect of its goods. Select the response most consistent with customary usage.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: retailer, you · What happens: give, announce, respect, select · To what, where: It, price adjustment, respect, goods, response
This is exam question 2 of lesson 22 «Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy and business and advertising» 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
Sentence 1: It is given that a retailer announces a "price adjustment" in respect of its goods.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 given | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | aux:pass |
| 3 | given | give | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 7 announces | mark |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 retailer | det |
| 6 | retailer | retailer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 announces | nsubj |
| 7 | announces | announce | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | advcl |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 adjustment | det |
| 9 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 adjustment | punct |
| 10 | price | price | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 adjustment | compound |
| 11 | adjustment | adjustment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 announces | obj |
| 12 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 adjustment | punct |
| 13 | in | in | ADP | _ | 14 respect | case |
| 14 | respect | respect | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 announces | obl |
| 15 | of | of | ADP | _ | 17 goods | case |
| 16 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 17 goods | nmod:poss |
| 17 | goods | goods | NOUN | Number=Ptan | 14 respect | nmod |
| 18 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 given | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | give | present · passive | It | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 2 | announce speech: other | present | a retailer | a price adjustment | respect of retailer's goods | vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent adjustment=Theme | |||
| 3 | respect | retailer's goods | nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
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: Select the response most consistent with customary usage.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Select | select | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 response | det |
| 3 | response | response | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Select | obj |
| 4 | most | most | ADV | Degree=Sup | 5 consistent | advmod |
| 5 | consistent | consistent | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 response | amod |
| 6 | with | with | ADP | _ | 8 usage | case |
| 7 | customary | customary | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 usage | compound |
| 8 | usage | usage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 consistent | obl |
| 9 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Select | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | select | imperative | you not said here | the response | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
The prices are to remain unaltered
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 prices | det |
| 2 | prices | price | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 remain | nsubj |
| 3 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 remain | cop |
| 4 | to | to | PART | _ | 5 remain | mark |
| 5 | remain | remain | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | unaltered | unaltered | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 remain | xcomp |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | the prices | remain, unaltered property | tree rules |
Option 2
The goods are to be withdrawn from sale
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 goods | det |
| 2 | goods | goods | NOUN | Number=Ptan | 6 withdrawn | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 withdrawn | aux:pass |
| 4 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 withdrawn | mark |
| 5 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 6 withdrawn | aux:pass |
| 6 | withdrawn | withdraw | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 7 | from | from | ADP | _ | 8 sale | case |
| 8 | sale | sale | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 withdrawn | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | withdraw | present · passive | the goods | sale | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: subject=Theme from sale=Initial_Location |
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
The prices are to be increased
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 prices | det |
| 2 | prices | price | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 increased | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 increased | aux:pass |
| 4 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 increased | mark |
| 5 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 6 increased | aux:pass |
| 6 | increased | increase | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | increase | present · passive | the prices | vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
Option 4
The prices are to be reduced
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 prices | det |
| 2 | prices | price | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 reduced | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 reduced | aux:pass |
| 4 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 reduced | mark |
| 5 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 6 reduced | aux:pass |
| 6 | reduced | reduce | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | reduce | present · passive | the prices | vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: 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/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/e2/