---
title: The company letter says: "We are offering early retirement to staff… — Soft words for hard things: work, firi… · tree and pragmatics
description: The company letter says: "We are offering early retirement to staff over 55." What is it really trying to do? Test 8 · ★ 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 
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The company letter says: "We are offering early retirement to staff over 55." What is it really trying to do?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** company letter, We, retirement · **What happens:** say, offer, try, do · **To what, where:** early retirement, 55 · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* The company letter says: "We are offering early retirement to staff over 55."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t8:1
# text = The company letter says: "We are offering early retirement to staff over 55."
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	offering	offer	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	ccomp	_	_
10	early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	retirement	retirement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	staff	staff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
14	over	over	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	55	55	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the company letter |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **offer** *in a quote* | present · progressive | We | early retirement |  | 55 |  | to staff *goal* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent retirement=Theme to staff=Goal |

<!-- .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 is it really trying to do?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t8:2
# text = What is it really trying to do?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	really	really	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | present · progressive | retirement |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | retirement *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Get older workers to leave

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t8:o1:1
# text = Get older workers to leave
1	Get	get	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	amod	_	_
3	workers	worker	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | imperative | you *not said here* | older workers |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **leave** | to-infinitive | older workers *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Give older workers a pay rise

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t8:o2:1
# text = Give older workers a pay rise
1	Give	give	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	amod	_	_
3	workers	worker	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	pay	pay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	rise	rise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | imperative | you *not said here* | older workers |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent worker=Recipient rise=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Give older workers a party

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t8:o3:1
# text = Give older workers a party
1	Give	give	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	amod	_	_
3	workers	worker	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | imperative | you *not said here* | older workers |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent worker=Recipient party=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Let older workers come in earlier

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:21-work-firing-and-the-economy:t8:o4:1
# text = Let older workers come in earlier
1	Let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	amod	_	_
3	workers	worker	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
5	in	in	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	earlier	early	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **come in** | present | older workers |  |  |  |  | early *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: work, firi…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/21-work-firing-and-the-economy/t7/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: work, firi…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/21-work-firing-and-the-economy/t9/)
- ↑ 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/)