---
title: A delivery firm calls its riders "independent contractors". What doe… — Soft words for hard things: work, firi… · tree and pragmatics
description: A delivery firm calls its riders "independent contractors". What does this usually mean for the riders? Test 7 · ★ 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 question and of
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A delivery firm calls its riders "independent contractors". What does this usually mean for the riders?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** delivery firm · **What happens:** call, mean · **To what, where:** riders · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ 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/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A delivery firm calls its riders "independent contractors".

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t7:1
# text = A delivery firm calls its riders "independent contractors".
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	delivery	delivery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	firm	firm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	calls	call	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	riders	rider	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	independent	independent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	contractors	contractor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | present | a delivery firm | firm's riders |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent rider=Theme contractor=Result |

<!-- .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:* What does this usually mean for the riders?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t7:2
# text = What does this usually mean for the riders?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	obj	_	_
4	usually	usually	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	riders	rider	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present · do-support |  |  |  |  |  | for the riders; usually *property* | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot what=Theme for rider=Attribute |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A higher wage than ordinary staff

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t7:o1:1
# text = A higher wage than ordinary staff
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	higher	high	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	amod	_	_
3	wage	wage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	ordinary	ordinary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	staff	staff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A company car and a pension

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t7:o2:1
# text = A company car and a pension
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	car	car	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	pension	pension	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No sick pay, holiday pay or job security

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t7:o3:1
# text = No sick pay, holiday pay or job security
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	3	det	_	_
2	sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	pay	pay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	holiday	holiday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	pay	pay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	job	job	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	security	security	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The right to choose their own bosses

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t7:o4:1
# text = The right to choose their own bosses
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	right	right	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	choose	choose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	acl	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	bosses	boss	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **choose** | to-infinitive |  | their own bosses |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boss=Theme |

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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: work, firi…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/21-work-firing-and-the-economy/t6/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: work, firi…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/21-work-firing-and-the-economy/t8/)
- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/21-work-firing-and-the-economy/)