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

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a person classified as "economically inactive"?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: person · What happens: follow, characteris, classify · To what, where: person, inactive

This is exam question 3 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

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	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 person	det
10	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	classified	classify	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 person	acl
12	as	as	SCONJ	_	15 inactive	mark
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 inactive	punct
14	economically	economically	ADV	_	15 inactive	advmod
15	inactive	inactive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 classified	obl
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 inactive	punct
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		a person	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	classify	participle	a person not said here	inactive		vn classify-29.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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 · ✓ the right answer

He is neither employed nor seeking employment

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 employed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 employed	aux
3	neither	neither	ADV	_	4 employed	advmod
4	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	nor	nor	CCONJ	Polarity=Neg	6 seeking	cc
6	seeking	seek	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 employed	conj
7	employment	employment	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 seeking	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	present · passive		He				neither property	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	seek	gerund		employment					vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent employment=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

He abstains from all expenditure

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	2 abstains	nsubj
2	abstains	abstain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 expenditure	case
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 expenditure	det
5	expenditure	expenditure	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 abstains	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	abstain	present	He			all expenditure			vn refrain-69 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent from expenditure=Eventuality

Option 3

He is employed upon a low wage

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 employed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 employed	aux:pass
3	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 wage	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 wage	det
6	low	low	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 wage	amod
7	wage	wage	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 employed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	present · passive		He				upon a low wage	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4

He is employed upon a part-time basis

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 employed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 employed	aux:pass
3	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 basis	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 basis	det
6	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 time	compound
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 part	punct
8	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 basis	compound
9	basis	basis	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 employed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	present · passive		He				upon a time basis	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: subject=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/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/e3/