---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a ho… — Soft words for hard things: money and… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a household described as "in straitened circumstances"? Exam question 1 of lesson 19 «Soft words for hard things: money and poverty» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the quest
---

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# Exam question 1 · Soft words for hard things: money and poverty

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a household described as "in straitened circumstances"?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris, describe, straiten · **To what, where:** household

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This is exam question 1 of lesson 19 «Soft words for hard things: money and poverty» 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/euphemisms/19-money-and-poverty/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:19-money-and-poverty:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a household described as "in straitened circumstances"?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	household	household	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	described	describe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
12	as	as	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
13	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	straitened	straiten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	amod	_	_
16	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | 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 household |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **describe** | participle |  | a household *not said here* |  |  |  | as straitened circumstances | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent as circumstance=Attribute |
| 4 | **straiten** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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 {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The household is confined to a narrow space

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:19-money-and-poverty:e1:o1:1
# text = The household is confined to a narrow space
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	household	household	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	confined	confine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	narrow	narrow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	space	space	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **confine** | present · passive |  | the household |  | a narrow space |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to space=Destination |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The household is exceptionally well organised

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:19-money-and-poverty:e1:o2:1
# text = The household is exceptionally well organised
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	household	household	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
4	exceptionally	exceptionally	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
6	organised	organise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **organise** | present · passive |  | the household |  |  |  | exceptionally, well *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The household is poor and short of money

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:19-money-and-poverty:e1:o3:1
# text = The household is poor and short of money
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	household	household	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the household |  |  |  |  | poor *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | the household *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of money | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The household is situated on a straight road

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:19-money-and-poverty:e1:o4:1
# text = The household is situated on a straight road
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	household	household	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	situated	situate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	straight	straight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **situate** | present · passive |  | the household |  | a straight road |  |  | vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme on road=Destination |

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**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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- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: money and…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/19-money-and-poverty/t12/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: money and…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/19-money-and-poverty/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: money and poverty](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/19-money-and-poverty/)