Exam question 1 · Openings that hook the reader

Identify the principal function of the opening sentence of a narrative.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, sentence · To what, where: principal function, narrative

This is exam question 1 of lesson 40 «Openings that hook the reader» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 function	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 function	amod
4	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 sentence	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sentence	det
7	opening	opening	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 sentence	amod
8	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 function	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 narrative	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 narrative	det
11	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sentence	nmod
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal function of the opening sentence of a narrative					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent function=Theme
2	sentence			a narrative					nom sentence «communication transitive»: of=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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

To engage the reader so that they continue reading

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 engage	mark
2	engage	engage	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reader	det
4	reader	reader	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 engage	obj
5	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	8 continue	mark
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	5 so	fixed
7	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 continue	nsubj
8	continue	continue	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 engage	advcl
9	reading	reading	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 continue	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	engage	to-infinitive		the reader					vn amalgamate-22.2-3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reader=Patient
2	continue	present	they	reading					vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent reading=Theme

Option 2

To provide the date of the composition

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 provide	mark
2	provide	provide	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 date	det
4	date	date	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 provide	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 composition	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 composition	det
7	composition	composition	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 date	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	provide	to-infinitive		the date of the composition					vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition date=Theme

Option 3

To state the conclusion of the narrative in advance

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 state	mark
2	state	state	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 conclusion	det
4	conclusion	conclusion	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 state	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 narrative	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 narrative	det
7	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 conclusion	nmod
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 advance	case
9	advance	advance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 state	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	state speech: other	to-infinitive		the conclusion of the narrative		advance			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent conclusion=Topic
2	conclude			the narrative					nom conclusion «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

To list all the characters who subsequently appear

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 list	mark
2	list	list	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 characters	det:predet
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 characters	det
5	characters	character	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 list	obj
6	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 appear	nsubj
7	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	_	8 appear	advmod
8	appear	appear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 characters	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	list	to-infinitive		all characters					tree rules
2	appear	present	all characters					subsequently property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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/40-openings-that-hook-the-reader/e1/