Test 9 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: business and advertising and p…
A politician says: "This is not a tax rise, it is revenue enhancement." Is it a tax rise?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: politician, This, enhancement · What happens: say, not be, be · To what, where: tax rise, revenue enhancement · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 9 · ★ 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. 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 politician says: "This is not a tax rise, it is revenue enhancement."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 politician | det |
| 2 | politician | politician | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 says | nsubj |
| 3 | says | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 11 rise | punct |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 rise | punct |
| 6 | This | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 11 rise | nsubj |
| 7 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 11 rise | cop |
| 8 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 11 rise | advmod |
| 9 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 rise | det |
| 10 | tax | tax | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 rise | compound |
| 11 | rise | rise | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 says | ccomp |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 enhancement | punct |
| 13 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 enhancement | nsubj |
| 14 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 16 enhancement | cop |
| 15 | revenue | revenue | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 enhancement | compound |
| 16 | enhancement | enhancement | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 rise | nmod |
| 17 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 16 enhancement | punct |
| 18 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 16 enhancement | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | present | a politician | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | not is a in a quote | present | This | a tax rise | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | is a in a quote | present | politician | revenue enhancement | tree rules |
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: Is it a tax rise?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 rise | cop |
| 2 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 rise | nsubj |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 rise | det |
| 4 | tax | tax | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 rise | compound |
| 5 | rise | rise | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 6 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 5 rise | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | enhancement | a tax rise | tree rules |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
No, it is a new bank
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | no | INTJ | Polarity=Neg | 7 bank | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 No | punct |
| 3 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 bank | nsubj |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 bank | cop |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 bank | det |
| 6 | new | new | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 bank | amod |
| 7 | bank | bank | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | it | a new bank | tree rules |
Option 2 · ✓ the right answer
Yes, it is a tax rise with a softer name
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | yes | INTJ | Polarity=Pos | 7 rise | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Yes | punct |
| 3 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 rise | nsubj |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 rise | cop |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 rise | det |
| 6 | tax | tax | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 rise | compound |
| 7 | rise | rise | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 8 | with | with | ADP | _ | 11 name | case |
| 9 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 name | det |
| 10 | softer | soft | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 11 name | amod |
| 11 | name | name | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 rise | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | it | a tax rise | with a softer name | tree rules |
Option 3
No, it is a tax cut
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | no | INTJ | Polarity=Neg | 7 cut | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 No | punct |
| 3 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 cut | nsubj |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 cut | cop |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 cut | det |
| 6 | tax | tax | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 cut | compound |
| 7 | cut | cut | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | it | a tax cut | tree rules |
Option 4
No, it is a kind gift to all the people of the country
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | no | INTJ | Polarity=Neg | 7 gift | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 No | punct |
| 3 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 gift | nsubj |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 gift | cop |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 gift | det |
| 6 | kind | kind | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 gift | amod |
| 7 | gift | gift | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 8 | to | to | ADP | _ | 11 people | case |
| 9 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 11 people | det:predet |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 people | det |
| 11 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 gift | nmod |
| 12 | of | of | ADP | _ | 14 country | case |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 country | det |
| 14 | country | country | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 people | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | it | a kind gift | to all people of the country | tree rules |
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/t9/