---
title: Report: "The economy saw negative growth for two quarters in a row."… — Soft words for hard things: work, firi… · tree and pragmatics
description: Report: "The economy saw negative growth for two quarters in a row." (A quarter is three months.) Which is true? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 21 «Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the questi
---

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# Test 5 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Report: "The economy saw negative growth for two quarters in a row." (A quarter is three months.) Which is true?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** economy, quarter · **What happens:** see, be · **To what, where:** Report, row, three months

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 21 «Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy» 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/euphemisms/21-work-firing-and-the-economy/#t5).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Report: "The economy saw negative growth for two quarters in a row."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t5:1
# text = Report: "The economy saw negative growth for two quarters in a row."
1	Report	report	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	economy	economy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	negative	negative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	growth	growth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
11	quarters	quarter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	row	row	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** *in a quote* | past | the economy | Report |  | a row |  | for two quarters | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer growth=Stimulus |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* (A quarter is three months.)

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t5:2
# text = (A quarter is three months.)
1	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	quarter	quarter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a quarter | three months |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* Which is true?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t5:3
# text = Which is true?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The economy got smaller for half a year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t5:o1:1
# text = The economy got smaller for half a year
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	economy	economy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	smaller	small	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	half	half	DET	PDT	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac|PronType=Ind	8	det:predet	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | the economy |  |  |  | year | small *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The economy grew a little each month, but slowly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t5:o2:1
# text = The economy grew a little each month, but slowly
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	economy	economy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	month	month	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past | the economy |  |  |  | month | slowly *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The economy grew very fast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t5:o3:1
# text = The economy grew very fast
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	economy	economy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past | the economy |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing changed at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t5:o4:1
# text = Nothing changed at all
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	_
2	changed	change	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	acl	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | participle |  |  |  | all |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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