---
title: Ascertain the plain meaning of "revenue enhancement" when employed b… — Soft words for hard things: business a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the plain meaning of "revenue enhancement" when employed by a legislator in respect of fiscal policy. Exam question 4 of lesson 23 «Soft words for hard things: business and advertising and politics and government spin» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency 
---

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# Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: business and advertising and p…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the plain meaning of "revenue enhancement" when employed by a legislator in respect of fiscal policy.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, employ, mean, respect · **To what, where:** plain meaning, revenue enhancement, fiscal policy

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 23 «Soft words for hard things: business and advertising and politics and government spin» 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/23-fees-bugs-and-spin/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:23-fees-bugs-and-spin:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the plain meaning of "revenue enhancement" when employed by a legislator in respect of fiscal policy.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	plain	plain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	revenue	revenue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	enhancement	enhancement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
11	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
12	by	by	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	legislator	legislator	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	respect	respect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	fiscal	fiscal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	policy	policy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the plain meaning of revenue enhancement |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic |
| 2 | **employ** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | by a legislator in respect of fiscal policy | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **mean** |  |  | revenue enhancement |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 4 | **respect** |  |  | fiscal policy |  |  |  |  | nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
A reduction in taxation

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:23-fees-bugs-and-spin:e4:o1:1
# text = A reduction in taxation
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	reduction	reduction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	taxation	taxation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An increase in public salaries

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:23-fees-bugs-and-spin:e4:o2:1
# text = An increase in public salaries
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	increase	increase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	public	public	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	salaries	salary	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An increase in taxation

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:23-fees-bugs-and-spin:e4:o3:1
# text = An increase in taxation
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	increase	increase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	taxation	taxation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An improvement to the collection website

```conllu
# sent_id = question:euphemisms:23-fees-bugs-and-spin:e4:o4:1
# text = An improvement to the collection website
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	improvement	improvement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	collection	collection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	website	website	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

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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: business a…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/23-fees-bugs-and-spin/e3/)
- next →: [Soft words for hard things: politics a…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/24-government-spin/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Soft words for hard things: business and advertising and politics and government spin](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/23-fees-bugs-and-spin/)