Exam question 4 · Persuasive letters, newspaper articles and diaries

Ascertain the feature by which a diary may most readily be distinguished from a newspaper report.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, feature · What happens: ascertain, distinguish · To what, where: feature, diary

This is exam question 4 of lesson 24 «Persuasive letters, newspaper articles and diaries» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 feature	det
3	feature	feature	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 distinguished	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 diary	det
7	diary	diary	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 distinguished	nsubj:pass
8	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 distinguished	aux
9	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	10 readily	advmod
10	readily	readily	ADV	_	12 distinguished	advmod
11	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	12 distinguished	aux:pass
12	distinguished	distinguish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 feature	acl:relcl
13	from	from	ADP	_	16 report	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 report	det
15	newspaper	newspaper	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 report	compound
16	report	report	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 distinguished	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the feature					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feature=Topic
2	distinguish	may · passive	the feature	a diary				from a newspaper report; readily property	vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent subject=Theme from report=Co-Theme

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 right answer

Its personal, first-person account of feelings

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 account	nmod:poss
2	personal	personal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 account	amod
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 personal	punct
4	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	6 person	amod
5	-	-	PUNCT	_	4 first	punct
6	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 account	compound
7	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 feelings	case
9	feelings	feeling	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 account	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	account		Its = it	feelings					nom account «communication transitive»: poss=agent of=patient

Option 2

Its columns

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 columns	nmod:poss
2	columns	column	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3

Its quotations from witnesses who were present at the scene

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 quotations	nmod:poss
2	quotations	quotation	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 present	nsubj
3	from	from	ADP	_	4 witnesses	case
4	witnesses	witness	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 quotations	nmod
5	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 present	nsubj
6	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 present	cop
7	present	present	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
8	at	at	ADP	_	10 scene	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 scene	det
10	scene	scene	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 present	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	Its quotations from witnesses			the scene		present property	tree rules
2	quote		Its = it			witnesses			nom quotation «communication transitive»: poss=agent from=place

Option 4

Its use of a headline

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 use	nmod:poss
2	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 headline	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 headline	det
5	headline	headline	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 use	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use		Its = it	a headline					nom use «act transitive»: poss=agent of=patient

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/24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries/e4/