Test 1 · Planning before writing
Your mate goes "planning is for people who can't write, mate." What is the truth?
Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: mate, planning, people, truth · What happens: go, be, not write
This is test 1 of lesson 39 «Planning before writing» 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 mate goes "planning is for people who can't write, mate."
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 mate | nmod:poss |
| 2 | mate | mate | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 goes | nsubj |
| 3 | goes | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 people | punct |
| 5 | planning | planning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 people | nsubj |
| 6 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 people | cop |
| 7 | for | for | ADP | _ | 8 people | case |
| 8 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 goes | obl |
| 9 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 12 write | nsubj |
| 10 | ca | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 12 write | aux |
| 11 | n't | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 12 write | advmod |
| 12 | write | write | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 8 people | acl:relcl |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 mate | punct |
| 14 | mate | mate | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 write | vocative |
| 15 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 people | punct |
| 16 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 goes | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | present | Your mate | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | is in a quote | present | planning | for people | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | not write in a quote | can | people | mate vocative | vn scribble-25.2-1 «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.
Sentence 2: What is the truth?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | root | root |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 1 What | cop |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 truth | det |
| 4 | truth | truth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 What | nsubj |
| 5 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 1 What | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | the truth | tree rules |
The options
Option 1
Only weak writers who can't write ever need a plan
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Only | only | ADV | _ | 2 weak | advmod |
| 2 | weak | weak | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 writers | amod |
| 3 | writers | writer | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 need | nsubj |
| 4 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 7 write | nsubj |
| 5 | ca | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 7 write | aux |
| 6 | n't | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 7 write | advmod |
| 7 | write | write | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 writers | acl:relcl |
| 8 | ever | ever | ADV | PronType=Ind | 7 write | advmod |
| 9 | need | need | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 10 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 plan | det |
| 11 | plan | plan | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 need | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not write | can | weak writers | ever | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | need | infinitive | weak writers | a plan | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot plan=Theme |
Option 2
Planning is only for maths
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Planning | planning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 maths | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 maths | cop |
| 3 | only | only | ADV | _ | 5 maths | advmod |
| 4 | for | for | ADP | _ | 5 maths | case |
| 5 | maths | math | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | Planning | for maths | tree rules |
Option 3 · ← Mova's choice
Plans make writing worse every single time you use them
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plans | plan | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 make | nsubj |
| 2 | make | make | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | writing | write | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 2 make | obj |
| 4 | worse | bad | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 2 make | xcomp |
| 5 | every | every | DET | PronType=Tot | 7 time | det |
| 6 | single | single | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 time | amod |
| 7 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 make | obl:unmarked |
| 8 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 9 use | nsubj |
| 9 | use | use | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 time | acl:relcl |
| 10 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 use | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | make | present | Plans | time | bad property | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset | |||
| 2 | write | gerund | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 3 | use | present | you | Plans = plan | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
Strong writers plan so their writing has a shape
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strong | strong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 writers | amod |
| 2 | writers | writer | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 plan | nsubj |
| 3 | plan | plan | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | so | so | SCONJ | _ | 7 has | mark |
| 5 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 writing | nmod:poss |
| 6 | writing | writing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 has | nsubj |
| 7 | has | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 plan | ccomp |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 shape | det |
| 9 | shape | shape | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 has | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | plan | present | Strong writers | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | have | present | writers's writing | a shape | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shape=Patient | ||||
| 3 | write | writers = writer | nom writing «act 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/39-planning-before-writing/t1/