Test 9 · ★★ · Prices, money and jobs: why everything costs more

Grace's cousin, 25, can't afford to move out. His mum says, "In my day we bought a house at 25!" What was reported?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: mum, we · What happens: not afford, move out, say, buy, report · To what, where: house, 25 · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 18 «Prices, money and jobs: why everything costs more» of the politics 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: Grace's cousin, 25, can't afford to move out.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Grace	Grace	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 cousin	nmod:poss
2	's	's	PART	_	1 Grace	case
3	cousin	cousin	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 25	punct
5	25	25	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	3 cousin	appos
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 afford	punct
7	ca	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 afford	aux
8	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 afford	advmod
9	afford	afford	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	3 cousin	appos
10	to	to	PART	_	11 move	mark
11	move	move	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 afford	xcomp
12	out	out	ADP	_	11 move	compound:prt
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 cousin	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not afford	can							tree rules
2	move out	to-infinitive							vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme

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: His mum says, "In my day we bought a house at 25!"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 mum	nmod:poss
2	mum	mum	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 says	nsubj
3	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 bought	punct
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 bought	punct
6	In	in	ADP	_	8 day	case
7	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 day	nmod:poss
8	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 bought	obl
9	we	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	10 bought	nsubj
10	bought	buy	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 says	ccomp
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 house	det
12	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 bought	obj
13	at	at	ADP	_	14 25	case
14	25	25	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	10 bought	obl
15	!	!	PUNCT	_	10 bought	punct
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 bought	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: express	present	Grace's mum						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	buy in a quote	past	we	a house		25	day		vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent house=Theme at 25=Asset

Sentence 3: What was reported?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 reported	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 reported	aux:pass
3	reported	report	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 reported	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	report	past · passive							vn prosecute-33.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

Nobody at all bought a house in the past, so his mum must be wrong

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	6 house	nsubj
2	at	at	ADP	_	3 all	case
3	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	1 Nobody	nmod
4	bought	buy	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 house	amod
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 house	det
6	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 past	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 past	det
9	past	past	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 house	nmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 wrong	punct
11	so	so	ADV	_	16 wrong	advmod
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 mum	nmod:poss
13	mum	mum	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 wrong	nsubj
14	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	16 wrong	aux
15	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	16 wrong	cop
16	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 house	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	buy	participle							vn accept-77.1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	is	must	his mum					wrong property	tree rules

Option 2

Houses are cheaper today than they have ever been before

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Houses	house	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 cheaper	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 cheaper	cop
3	cheaper	cheap	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
4	today	today	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cheaper	obl:unmarked
5	than	than	SCONJ	_	7 have	mark
6	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 have	nsubj
7	have	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 cheaper	advcl
8	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	10 before	advmod
9	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	10 before	cop
10	before	before	ADV	_	7 have	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Houses	today	cheap property	tree rules
2	have	present	Houses = house			vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	is	participle		ever	before property	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Rents and house prices have risen faster than pay in many places

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Rents	rent	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 risen	nsubj
2	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 prices	cc
3	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 prices	compound
4	prices	price	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Rents	conj
5	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 risen	aux
6	risen	rise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
7	faster	fast	ADV	Degree=Cmp	6 risen	advmod
8	than	than	ADP	_	9 pay	case
9	pay	pay	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 faster	obl
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 places	case
11	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 places	amod
12	places	place	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 risen	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rise	present · perfect	Rents and house prices			many places		fast property	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in place=Location

Option 4

Young people now earn far more than their parents ever did

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 people	amod
2	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 earn	nsubj
3	now	now	ADV	PronType=Dem	4 earn	advmod
4	earn	earn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	6 more	advmod
6	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	4 earn	obj
7	than	than	ADP	_	9 parents	case
8	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 parents	nmod:poss
9	parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 more	obl
10	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	11 did	advmod
11	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 earn	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	earn	present	Young people	more			now		vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent more=Theme
2	do	past	Young people not said here				ever		vn act-114-1 «NP 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.

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