Exam question 3 · Soft words for hard things: business and advertising and p…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the practice of "dynamic pricing"?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris, practice · To what, where: practice, dynamic pricing

This is exam question 3 of lesson 23 «Soft words for hard things: business and advertising and politics and government spin» 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	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 practice	det
10	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 pricing	case
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 pricing	punct
13	dynamic	dynamic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 pricing	amod
14	pricing	pricing	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 practice	nmod
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 pricing	punct
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the practice of dynamic pricing	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	practice		dynamic pricing		nom practice «act 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

The elevation of prices at times of heightened demand

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 elevation	det
2	elevation	elevation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 prices	case
4	prices	price	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 elevation	nmod
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 times	case
6	times	time	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 elevation	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 demand	case
8	heightened	heighten	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 demand	amod
9	demand	demand	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 times	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	heighten	participle							vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	elevate			prices			at times of heightened demand		nom elevation «event transitive»: of=patient at=obl

Option 2

The reduction of prices at fixed intervals

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 reduction	det
2	reduction	reduction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 prices	case
4	prices	price	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 reduction	nmod
5	at	at	ADP	_	7 intervals	case
6	fixed	fix	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 intervals	amod
7	intervals	interval	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 reduction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fix	participle							vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	reduce			prices		fixed intervals			nom reduction «act transitive»: of=patient at=place

Option 3

The publication of prices in vivid colours

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 publication	det
2	publication	publication	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 prices	case
4	prices	price	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 publication	nmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 colours	case
6	vivid	vivid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 colours	amod
7	colours	colour	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 prices	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	publish			prices in vivid colours					nom publication «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The maintenance of identical prices throughout the year

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 maintenance	det
2	maintenance	maintenance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 prices	case
4	identical	identical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 prices	amod
5	prices	price	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 maintenance	nmod
6	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	8 year	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 year	det
8	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 maintenance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	maintain			identical prices			throughout the year		nom maintenance «act transitive»: of=patient throughout=obl

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/23-fees-bugs-and-spin/e3/