Exam question 2 · Direct speech: inverted commas and new speakers

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises indirect speech?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, indirect · To what, where: speech

This is exam question 2 of lesson 35 «Direct speech: inverted commas and new speakers» 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	9 indirect	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 indirect	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	9 indirect	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 indirect	nsubj
9	indirect	indirect	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	speech	speech	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 indirect	obj
11	?	?	PUNCT	_	9 indirect	punct

#	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	indirect	present		speech				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

It requires a new paragraph for each word

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 requires	nsubj
2	requires	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 paragraph	det
4	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 paragraph	amod
5	paragraph	paragraph	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 requires	obj
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 word	case
7	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	8 word	det
8	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 requires	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	present	It	a new paragraph				for each word	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme paragraph=Precondition

Option 2

It is employed solely for questions

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	3 employed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 employed	aux:pass
3	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 employed	advmod
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 questions	case
6	questions	question	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 employed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	present · passive		It				for questions; solely property	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: subject=Theme for question=Eventuality

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It reports the substance of what was said without inverted commas

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 reports	nsubj
2	reports	report	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 substance	det
4	substance	substance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reports	obj
5	of	of	SCONJ	_	8 said	mark
6	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	8 said	nsubj:pass
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 said	aux:pass
8	said	say	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 substance	acl:relcl
9	without	without	ADP	_	11 commas	case
10	inverted	invert	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 commas	amod
11	commas	comma	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 said	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	report	present	It	the substance		vn prosecute-33.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent substance=Patient
2	say speech: assert	past · passive		the substance	without inverted commas	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic
3	invert	participle				vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

It reproduces the speaker's exact words within inverted commas

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 reproduces	nsubj
2	reproduces	reproduce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 speaker	det
4	speaker	speaker	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 words	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 speaker	case
6	exact	exact	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 words	amod
7	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 reproduces	obj
8	within	within	ADP	_	10 commas	case
9	inverted	invert	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 commas	amod
10	commas	comma	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 reproduces	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	reproduce	present	It	the speaker's exact words	within inverted commas	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent word=Patient
2	invert	participle				vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent
3	word		the speaker			nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent

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/35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers/e2/