Exam question 3 · Direct speech: inverted commas and new speakers
It is given that a conversation involves two speakers alternating. State the convention in respect of layout.
Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: conversation, two speakers, you · What happens: give, involve, alternate, state, respect · To what, where: It, two speakers, convention, respect, layout
This is exam question 3 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
Sentence 1: It is given that a conversation involves two speakers alternating.
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 given | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | aux:pass |
| 3 | given | give | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 7 involves | mark |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 conversation | det |
| 6 | conversation | conversation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 involves | nsubj |
| 7 | involves | involve | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | advcl |
| 8 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 9 speakers | nummod |
| 9 | speakers | speaker | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 involves | obj |
| 10 | alternating | alternate | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 9 speakers | acl |
| 11 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 given | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | give | present · passive | It | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 2 | involve | present | a conversation | two speakers | vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent speaker=Theme | ||||
| 3 | alternate | gerund | two speakers not said here | vn amalgamate-22.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=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.
Sentence 2: State the convention in respect of layout.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | State | state | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 convention | det |
| 3 | convention | convention | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 State | obj |
| 4 | in | in | ADP | _ | 5 respect | case |
| 5 | respect | respect | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 State | obl |
| 6 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 layout | case |
| 7 | layout | layout | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 respect | nmod |
| 8 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 State | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | state speech: other | imperative | you not said here | the convention | respect of layout | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent convention=Topic | |||
| 2 | respect | layout | nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
The options
Option 1
All utterances are placed in a single paragraph
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | All | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 2 utterances | det |
| 2 | utterances | utterance | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 placed | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 placed | aux:pass |
| 4 | placed | place | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 paragraph | case |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 paragraph | det |
| 7 | single | single | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 paragraph | amod |
| 8 | paragraph | paragraph | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 placed | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | place | present · passive | all utterances | a single paragraph | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in paragraph=Destination |
Option 2
Each utterance is placed in brackets
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Each | each | DET | PronType=Tot | 2 utterance | det |
| 2 | utterance | utterance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 placed | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 placed | aux:pass |
| 4 | placed | place | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 6 brackets | case |
| 6 | brackets | bracket | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 placed | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | place | present · passive | each utterance | brackets | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in bracket=Destination |
Option 3
A colon precedes every utterance
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 colon | det |
| 2 | colon | colon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 precedes | nsubj |
| 3 | precedes | precede | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | every | every | DET | PronType=Tot | 5 utterance | det |
| 5 | utterance | utterance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 precedes | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | precede | present | a colon | every utterance | vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme utterance=Co-Theme |
Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
A new line is commenced for each change of speaker
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 line | det |
| 2 | new | new | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 line | amod |
| 3 | line | line | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 commenced | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 commenced | aux:pass |
| 5 | commenced | commence | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | for | for | ADP | _ | 8 change | case |
| 7 | each | each | DET | PronType=Tot | 8 change | det |
| 8 | change | change | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 commenced | obl |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 10 speaker | case |
| 10 | speaker | speaker | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 change | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | commence | present · passive | a new line | for each change of speaker | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | change | speaker | nom change «event intransitive»: of=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/e3/