Test 11 · ★ · Openings that hook the reader

Which opening uses speech as a hook?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: opening · What happens: use · To what, where: speech

This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 40 «Openings that hook the reader» 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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Which	which	DET	PronType=Int	2 opening	det
2	opening	opening	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 uses	nsubj
3	uses	use	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	speech	speech	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 uses	obj
5	as	as	ADP	_	7 hook	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 hook	det
7	hook	hook	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 uses	obl
8	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 uses	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	present	which opening	speech				as a hook	vn spend_time-104 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent speech=Duration as hook=Attribute

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

Gran had a box.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Gran	Gran	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 had	nsubj
2	had	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 box	det
4	box	box	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 had	obj
5	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 had	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	past	Gran	a box					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent box=Patient

Option 2

The box was on the table in Gran's kitchen.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 box	det
2	box	box	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 table	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 table	cop
4	on	on	ADP	_	6 table	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 table	det
6	table	table	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	in	in	ADP	_	10 kitchen	case
8	Gran	Gran	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 kitchen	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 Gran	case
10	kitchen	kitchen	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 table	nmod
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	6 table	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the box			the table		in Gran's kitchen	tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

It was a Tuesday.

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	4 Tuesday	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 Tuesday	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 Tuesday	det
4	Tuesday	Tuesday	PROPN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 Tuesday	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	It	a Tuesday					tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

"Don't open that box," whispered Gran.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 open	punct
2	Do	do	AUX	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	4 open	aux
3	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 open	advmod
4	open	open	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	that	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	6 box	det
6	box	box	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 open	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 whispered	punct
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 whispered	punct
9	whispered	whisper	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 open	parataxis
10	Gran	Gran	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 whispered	obj
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 open	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not open in a quote	imperative · do-support	you not said here	that box					tree rules
2	whisper speech: assert	past	Gran						vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=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/40-openings-that-hook-the-reader/t11/