Exam question 3 · Active and passive voice, modal verbs

Which of the following most accurately characterises the principal reason for the use of the passive in scientific reports?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris, use · To what, where: principal reason, passive

This is exam question 3 of lesson 32 «Active and passive voice, modal verbs» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 following	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 following	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 following	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	6 accurately	advmod
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	7 characterises	advmod
7	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 following	advcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 reason	det
9	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 reason	amod
10	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 characterises	obj
11	for	for	ADP	_	13 use	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 use	det
13	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 reason	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 passive	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 passive	det
16	passive	passive	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 use	nmod
17	in	in	ADP	_	19 reports	case
18	scientific	scientific	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 reports	amod
19	reports	report	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 passive	nmod
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 following	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the principal reason	for the use of the passive in scientific reports; accurately property	tree rules
3	use		the passive in scientific reports		nom use «act transitive»: 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 right answer

The action is of greater importance than the agent

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 action	det
2	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 importance	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 importance	cop
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 importance	case
5	greater	great	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	6 importance	amod
6	importance	importance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	than	than	ADP	_	9 agent	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 agent	det
9	agent	agent	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 importance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the action					of greater importance; than the agent	tree rules

Option 2

It renders the report considerably shorter

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 renders	nsubj
2	renders	render	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 report	det
4	report	report	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 renders	obj
5	considerably	considerably	ADV	_	6 shorter	advmod
6	shorter	short	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 renders	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	present	It	the report					vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent report=Theme

Option 3

The agent is invariably unknown to the author

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 agent	det
2	agent	agent	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 unknown	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 unknown	cop
4	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	5 unknown	advmod
5	unknown	unknown	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 author	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 author	det
8	author	author	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 unknown	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the agent					to the author; invariably, unknown property	tree rules

Option 4

It is the sole grammatical form permitted

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 form	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 form	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 form	det
4	sole	sole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 form	amod
5	grammatical	grammatical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 form	amod
6	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	permitted	permit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 form	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	the sole grammatical form					tree rules
2	permit	participle		the sole grammatical form not said here					vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Causer

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/32-active-and-passive-voice-modal-verbs/e3/