Exam question 2 · Prices, money and jobs: why everything costs more

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the effect of an increase in interest rates by a central bank?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, effect · To what, where: effect, increase

This is exam question 2 of lesson 18 «Prices, money and jobs: why everything costs more» of the politics 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 effect	det
10	effect	effect	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 increase	case
12	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 increase	det
13	increase	increase	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 effect	nmod
14	in	in	ADP	_	16 rates	case
15	interest	interest	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 rates	compound
16	rates	rate	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 increase	nmod
17	by	by	ADP	_	20 bank	case
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	20 bank	det
19	central	central	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 bank	amod
20	bank	bank	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
21	?	?	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 effect of a increase in interest rates	of the following statements; by a central bank; accurately property	tree rules
3	effect		a increase in interest rates		nom effect «phenomenon 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

Borrowing becomes less costly, and all prices fall immediately

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Borrowing	borrowing	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 becomes	nsubj
2	becomes	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	less	less	ADV	Degree=Cmp	4 costly	advmod
4	costly	costly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 becomes	xcomp
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 fall	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 fall	cc
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 prices	det
8	prices	price	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 fall	nsubj
9	fall	fall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 becomes	conj
10	immediately	immediately	ADV	_	9 fall	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	present	Borrowing					costly property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient
2	fall	present	all prices					immediately property	vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

No household is affected in any respect, since interest rates concern the banks alone

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	2 household	det
2	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 affected	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 affected	aux:pass
4	affected	affect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 respect	case
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 respect	det
7	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 affected	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 concern	punct
9	since	since	ADP	_	12 concern	case
10	interest	interest	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 rates	compound
11	rates	rate	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 concern	compound
12	concern	concern	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 affected	parataxis
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 banks	det
14	banks	bank	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 concern	conj
15	alone	alone	ADV	_	14 banks	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	affect	present · passive		no household		any respect			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer

Option 3

Households with mortgages pay less each month, the loans being cheaper

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Households	household	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 pay	nsubj
2	with	with	ADP	_	3 mortgages	case
3	mortgages	mortgage	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Households	nmod
4	pay	pay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	less	less	ADV	Degree=Cmp	4 pay	advmod
6	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	7 month	det
7	month	month	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 pay	obl:unmarked
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 cheaper	punct
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 loans	det
10	loans	loan	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 cheaper	nsubj
11	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 cheaper	cop
12	cheaper	cheap	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	4 pay	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pay	present	Households with mortgages				month	less property	vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	is	gerund	the loans					cheap property	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Borrowing becomes more costly, and households with mortgages pay more each month

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Borrowing	borrowing	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 becomes	nsubj
2	becomes	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	4 costly	advmod
4	costly	costly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 becomes	xcomp
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 pay	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 pay	cc
7	households	household	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 pay	nsubj
8	with	with	ADP	_	9 mortgages	case
9	mortgages	mortgage	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 households	nmod
10	pay	pay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 becomes	conj
11	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	10 pay	obj
12	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	13 month	det
13	month	month	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 pay	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	present	Borrowing					costly property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient
2	pay	present	households with mortgages	more			month		vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent more=Asset

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.

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