Exam question 3 · Taxes and the government's budget

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a budget deficit?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: budget deficit

This is exam question 3 of lesson 36 «Taxes and the government's budget» of the money 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	11 deficit	det
10	budget	budget	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 deficit	compound
11	deficit	deficit	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		a budget deficit				of the following statements; accurately property	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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

A tax levied upon goods purchased in shops

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 tax	det
2	tax	tax	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 purchased	nsubj
3	levied	levy	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 tax	acl
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 goods	case
5	goods	goods	NOUN	Number=Ptan	3 levied	obl
6	purchased	purchase	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 shops	case
8	shops	shop	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 purchased	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	levy	participle		a tax not said here				upon goods	tree rules
2	purchase	participle	a tax			shops			vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

An excess of government expenditure over the revenue collected in taxation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 excess	det
2	excess	excess	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 collected	nsubj:pass
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 expenditure	case
4	government	government	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 expenditure	compound
5	expenditure	expenditure	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 excess	nmod
6	over	over	ADP	_	8 revenue	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 revenue	det
8	revenue	revenue	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 expenditure	nmod
9	collected	collect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 taxation	case
11	taxation	taxation	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 collected	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	collect	participle · passive		a excess of government expenditure over the revenue		taxation			vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3

An excess of revenue collected in taxation over government expenditure

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 excess	det
2	excess	excess	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 revenue	case
4	revenue	revenue	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 excess	nmod
5	collected	collect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 excess	acl
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 taxation	case
7	taxation	taxation	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 collected	obl
8	over	over	ADP	_	10 expenditure	case
9	government	government	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 expenditure	compound
10	expenditure	expenditure	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 collected	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	collect	participle		a excess of revenue not said here		taxation		over government expenditure	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 4

A sum paid to the government by children

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 sum	det
2	sum	sum	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	paid	pay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 sum	acl
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 government	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 government	det
6	government	government	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 paid	obl:agent
7	by	by	ADP	_	8 children	case
8	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 paid	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pay	participle		a sum not said here				by children	vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: 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/money/36-taxes-and-the-governments-budget/e3/