Exam question 4 · Direct speech: inverted commas and new speakers

Select the response consistent with established convention concerning punctuation at the end of spoken words.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established convention · What happens: select, establish, concern, speak · To what, where: response, punctuation, end · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 response	amod
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 convention	case
6	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 convention	amod
7	convention	convention	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 consistent	obl
8	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 convention	acl
9	punctuation	punctuation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 concerning	obj
10	at	at	ADP	_	12 end	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 end	det
12	end	end	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 concerning	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 words	case
14	spoken	speak	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 words	amod
15	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 end	nmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	established convention not said here	punctuation	at the end of spoken words	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus punctuation=Experiencer
4	speak speech: other	participle				vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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 · ✓ the right answer

It is placed within the closing 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	3 placed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 placed	aux:pass
3	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	within	within	ADP	_	6 closing	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 closing	det
6	closing	closing	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 placed	obl
7	inverted	invert	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 commas	amod
8	commas	comma	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 closing	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	place	present · passive		It				within the closing inverted commas	vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme
2	invert	participle							vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent

Option 2

It is placed before the opening 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	3 placed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 placed	aux:pass
3	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	before	before	ADP	_	6 opening	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 opening	det
6	opening	opening	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 placed	obl
7	inverted	invert	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 commas	amod
8	commas	comma	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 opening	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	place	present · passive		It		the opening and inverted commas			vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme before opening=Destination
2	invert	participle							vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

It is omitted entirely in all cases

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 omitted	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 omitted	aux:pass
3	omitted	omit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	3 omitted	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 cases	case
6	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 cases	det
7	cases	case	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 omitted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	omit	present · passive		It		all cases		entirely property	vn exclude-107.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4

It is placed after the name of the speaker only

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 placed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 placed	aux:pass
3	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	after	after	ADP	_	6 name	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 name	det
6	name	name	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 placed	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 speaker	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 speaker	det
9	speaker	speaker	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 name	nmod
10	only	only	ADV	_	9 speaker	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	place	present · passive		It			after the name of the speaker		vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme
2	name			the speaker					nom name «communication transitive»: 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.

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