Exam question 2 · Describing: senses, showing and precise words

Which of the following most accurately characterises the principle "show, don't tell"?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, not tell · To what, where: principle · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 41 «Describing: senses, showing and precise words» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 characterises	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 characterises	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 characterises	csubj
5	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	6 accurately	advmod
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	7 characterises	advmod
7	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 principle	det
9	principle	principle	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 characterises	obj
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 show	punct
11	show	show	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 principle	conj
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 tell	punct
13	do	do	AUX	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	15 tell	aux
14	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	15 tell	advmod
15	tell	tell	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	7 characterises	parataxis
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 tell	punct
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the principle and show	accurately property	tree rules
3	not tell speech: assert in a quote	infinitive · do-support			vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

Description is to be avoided in favour of dialogue

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Description	description	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 avoided	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 avoided	aux:pass
3	to	to	PART	_	5 avoided	mark
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 avoided	aux:pass
5	avoided	avoid	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 favour	case
7	favour	favour	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 avoided	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 dialogue	case
9	dialogue	dialogue	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 favour	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	avoid	present · passive		Description		favour of dialogue			vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: subject=Location
2	favour			dialogue					nom favour «feeling transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

Pictures are to be inserted in place of words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Pictures	picture	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 inserted	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 inserted	aux:pass
3	to	to	PART	_	5 inserted	mark
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 inserted	aux:pass
5	inserted	insert	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 place	case
7	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 inserted	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 words	case
9	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 place	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	insert	present · passive		Pictures		place of words			vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in place=Destination

Option 3

Every emotion must be named explicitly in each sentence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	2 emotion	det
2	emotion	emotion	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 named	nsubj:pass
3	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 named	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 named	aux:pass
5	named	name	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	explicitly	explicitly	ADV	_	5 named	advmod
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 sentence	case
8	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	9 sentence	det
9	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 named	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	name	must · passive		every emotion		each sentence		explicitly property	vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Emotions are conveyed through actions and details rather than named

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Emotions	emotion	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 conveyed	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 conveyed	aux:pass
3	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	through	through	ADP	_	5 actions	case
5	actions	action	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 conveyed	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 details	cc
7	details	detail	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 actions	conj
8	rather	rather	ADV	ExtPos=CCONJ	10 named	cc
9	than	than	ADP	_	8 rather	fixed
10	named	name	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 actions	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	convey	present · passive		Emotions		actions and details			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic
2	name	participle							vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: 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/41-describing-senses-showing-and-precise-words/e2/