Exam question 1 · Author's choices: why this word, why this way

Identify the principal effect achieved by the author's selection of the verb «screamed» in the sentence «The wind screamed through the trees».

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, author · What happens: identify, achieve, scream, select · To what, where: principal effect, verb, sentence, wind, trees

This is exam question 1 of lesson 21 «Author's choices: why this word, why this way» of the English 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.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 effect	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 effect	amod
4	effect	effect	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	achieved	achieve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 effect	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	10 selection	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 author	det
8	author	author	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 selection	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 author	case
10	selection	selection	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 achieved	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 verb	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 verb	det
13	verb	verb	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 selection	nmod
14	«	«	PUNCT	_	15 screamed	punct
15	screamed	scream	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 verb	acl
16	»	»	PUNCT	_	15 screamed	punct
17	in	in	ADP	_	19 sentence	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 sentence	det
19	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 screamed	obl
20	«	«	PUNCT	_	22 wind	punct
21	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 wind	det
22	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 sentence	appos
23	screamed	scream	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	22 wind	acl
24	through	through	ADP	_	26 trees	case
25	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	26 trees	det
26	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	23 screamed	obl
27	»	»	PUNCT	_	22 wind	punct
28	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal effect			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent effect=Theme
2	achieve	participle		the principal effect not said here		by the author's selection of the verb	vn complete-55.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
3	scream speech: express in a quote	participle		the verb not said here	the sentence		vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in sentence=Location
4	scream speech: express in a quote	participle		the wind not said here	the trees		vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through tree=Location
5	select		the author	the verb			nom selection «act transitive»: poss=agent of=patient

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

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

The reader is informed of the precise speed of the wind, measured in kilometres per hour

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 reader	det
2	reader	reader	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 informed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 informed	aux:pass
4	informed	inform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 speed	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 speed	det
7	precise	precise	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 speed	amod
8	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 informed	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 wind	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 wind	det
11	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 speed	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 measured	punct
13	measured	measure	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 informed	parataxis
14	in	in	ADP	_	15 kilometres	case
15	kilometres	kilometre	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 measured	obl
16	per	per	ADP	_	17 hour	case
17	hour	hour	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 kilometres	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inform speech: other	present · passive		the reader				of the precise speed of the wind	vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient PP.topic»: subject=Recipient of speed=Topic
2	measure	participle				kilometres per hour			vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme

Option 2

The wind is rendered gentle

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 wind	det
2	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 rendered	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 rendered	aux:pass
4	rendered	render	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	gentle	gentle	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 rendered	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	present · passive		the wind				gentle property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3

The sentence is lengthened

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 sentence	det
2	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lengthened	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 lengthened	aux:pass
4	lengthened	lengthen	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lengthen	present · passive		the sentence					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The wind is rendered wild and frightening

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 wind	det
2	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 rendered	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 rendered	aux:pass
4	rendered	render	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	wild	wild	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 rendered	xcomp
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 frightening	cc
7	frightening	frightening	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 wild	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	present · passive		the wind				wild property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/21-authors-choices-why-this-word-why-this-way/e1/