---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a pe… — Soft words for hard things: work, firi… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a person classified as "economically inactive"? Exam question 3 of lesson 22 «Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy and business and advertising» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency 
---

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# Exam question 3 · Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a person classified as "economically inactive"?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** person · **What happens:** follow, characteris, classify · **To what, where:** person, inactive

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 22 «Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy and business and advertising» 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/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents:e3:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a person classified as "economically inactive"?
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	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	classified	classify	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
12	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	economically	economically	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	inactive	inactive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	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 person |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **classify** | participle | a person *not said here* | inactive |  |  |  |  | vn classify-29.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is neither employed nor seeking employment

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents:e3:o1:1
# text = He is neither employed nor seeking employment
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	neither	neither	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	6	cc	_	_
6	seeking	seek	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
7	employment	employment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **employ** | present · passive |  | He |  |  |  | neither *property* | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **seek** | gerund |  | employment |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent employment=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He abstains from all expenditure

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents:e3:o2:1
# text = He abstains from all expenditure
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	abstains	abstain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	det	_	_
5	expenditure	expenditure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **abstain** | present | He |  |  | all expenditure |  |  | vn refrain-69 «NP V PP.theme S\_ING»: agent=Agent from expenditure=Eventuality |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is employed upon a low wage

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents:e3:o3:1
# text = He is employed upon a low wage
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	low	low	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	wage	wage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **employ** | present · passive |  | He |  |  |  | upon a low wage | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is employed upon a part-time basis

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents:e3:o4:1
# text = He is employed upon a part-time basis
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
6	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	basis	basis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **employ** | present · passive |  | He |  |  |  | upon a time basis | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**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…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/e2/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: work, firi…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy and business and advertising](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/)