Test 7 · ★ · Paragraphs and cohesion: holding a text together

Your brother, bit sharp: "Stop starting every sentence with 'then', it's doing my head in." What could you use instead?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: brother, sentence, you · What happens: stop, start, do in, use · To what, where: sentence, head

This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 37 «Paragraphs and cohesion: holding a text together» of the English course of Mova's primary school. 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: Your brother, bit sharp: "Stop starting every sentence with 'then', it's doing my head in."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Your	your	PRON	Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 brother	nmod:poss
2	brother	brother	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 Stop	nsubj
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 bit	punct
4	bit	bit	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 brother	conj
5	sharp	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 bit	amod
6	:	:	PUNCT	_	8 Stop	punct
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 Stop	punct
8	Stop	stop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
9	starting	start	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 Stop	xcomp
10	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	11 sentence	det
11	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 starting	obj
12	with	with	ADP	_	14 then	case
13	'	'	PUNCT	_	14 then	punct
14	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	18 doing	obl
15	',	',	PUNCT	_	14 then	punct
16	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 doing	nsubj
17	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	18 doing	aux
18	doing	do	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 starting	conj
19	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	20 head	nmod:poss
20	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 doing	obj
21	in	in	ADP	_	18 doing	compound:prt
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	8 Stop	punct
23	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 Stop	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	stop in a quote	infinitive	Your brother and bit		vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality
2	start in a quote	gerund	Your brother and bit not said here	every sentence	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sentence=Eventuality
3	do in in a quote	present · progressive	sentence	my head	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Eventuality

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: What could you use instead?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	4 use	obj
2	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 use	aux
3	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	4 use	nsubj
4	use	use	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	instead	instead	ADV	_	4 use	advmod
6	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 use	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	could	you					instead property	vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Patient

The options

Option 1

Nothing, "then" is the only option

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Nothing	punct
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 then	punct
4	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	9 option	advmod
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 then	punct
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 option	cop
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 option	det
8	only	only	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 option	amod
9	option	option	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Nothing	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present		the only option			then		tree rules

Option 2

More "then"s, but written in big capital letters

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	More	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	8 written	nsubj:pass
2	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 then	punct
3	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	1 More	advmod
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	1 More	punct
5	s	's	PART	Typo=Yes	1 More	case
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 written	punct
7	but	but	CCONJ	_	8 written	cc
8	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	in	in	ADP	_	12 letters	case
10	big	big	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 letters	amod
11	capital	capital	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 letters	compound
12	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 written	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	write	participle · passive		More		big capital letters			vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in letter=Destination

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Time openers like "After that" or "By noon"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 openers	compound
2	openers	opener	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 that	nsubj
3	like	like	ADP	_	6 that	case
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 that	punct
5	After	after	ADP	_	6 that	case
6	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	root	root
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 that	punct
8	or	or	CCONJ	_	11 noon	cc
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 noon	punct
10	By	by	ADP	_	11 noon	case
11	noon	noon	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 that	conj
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 noon	punct

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

Option 4

Question marks after each "then"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 marks	compound
2	marks	mark	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	after	after	SCONJ	_	6 then	mark
4	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	6 then	nsubj
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 then	punct
6	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	2 marks	advmod
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 then	punct

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

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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