Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy a…

Ascertain the plain meaning of the term "pre-owned" when applied to a motor vehicle offered for sale.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, apply, offer, mean · To what, where: plain meaning, motor vehicle, term

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 meaning	det
3	plain	plain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 meaning	amod
4	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 term	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 term	det
7	term	term	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 meaning	nmod
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 pre-owned	punct
9	pre-owned	pre-owned	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 term	amod
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 pre-owned	punct
11	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	12 applied	advmod
12	applied	apply	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Ascertain	advcl
13	to	to	ADP	_	16 vehicle	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 vehicle	det
15	motor	motor	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 vehicle	compound
16	vehicle	vehicle	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 applied	obl
17	offered	offer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 vehicle	acl
18	for	for	ADP	_	19 sale	case
19	sale	sale	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 offered	obl
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the plain meaning of the term		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic
2	apply	participle	you not said here		to a motor vehicle	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	offer	participle		a motor vehicle not said here	for sale goal	vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent for sale=Goal
4	mean			the term		nom meaning «communication 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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Previously used by another owner

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Previously	previously	ADV	_	2 used	advmod
2	used	use	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
3	by	by	ADP	_	5 owner	case
4	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	5 owner	det
5	owner	owner	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 used	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	participle						by another owner; previously property	vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Manufactured prior to the current year

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Manufactured	manufacture	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	6 year	case
3	to	to	ADP	_	2 prior	fixed
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 year	det
5	current	current	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 year	amod
6	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Manufactured	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	manufacture	participle					year		vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Reserved in advance for a purchaser

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Reserved	reserve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	in	in	ADP	_	3 advance	case
3	advance	advance	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Reserved	obl
4	for	for	ADP	_	6 purchaser	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 purchaser	det
6	purchaser	purchaser	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Reserved	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reserve	participle				advance		for a purchaser	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for purchaser=Beneficiary

Option 4

Never previously driven

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	2 previously	advmod
2	previously	previously	ADV	_	3 driven	advmod
3	driven	drive	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drive	participle						previously property	vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=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/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/e4/