Test 11 · ★★ · Building tension and suspense
A girl in Texas says "I'm fixin' to write the scariest story y'all ever read." Which is the best first tip?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: girl, y'all · What happens: say, fixin, write, read, be · To what, where: scariest story, best first tip · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 11 · ★★ of lesson 42 «Building tension and suspense» 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: A girl in Texas says "I'm fixin' to write the scariest story y'all ever read."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 girl | det |
| 2 | girl | girl | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 says | nsubj |
| 3 | in | in | ADP | _ | 4 Texas | case |
| 4 | Texas | Texas | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 girl | nmod |
| 5 | says | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 9 fixin | punct |
| 7 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 9 fixin | nsubj |
| 8 | 'm | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 fixin | aux |
| 9 | fixin | fixin | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 5 says | ccomp |
| 10 | ' | ' | PUNCT | _ | 9 fixin | punct |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 write | mark |
| 12 | write | write | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 fixin | xcomp |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 story | det |
| 14 | scariest | scarey | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 15 story | amod |
| 15 | story | story | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 write | obj |
| 16 | y'all | y'all | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 18 read | nsubj |
| 17 | ever | ever | ADV | PronType=Ind | 18 read | advmod |
| 18 | read | read | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 story | acl:relcl |
| 19 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 fixin | punct |
| 20 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 9 fixin | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | present | a girl in Texas | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | fixin in a quote | present · progressive | a girl in Texas = girl | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | write in a quote | to-infinitive | a girl in Texas = girl not said here | the scariest story | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent story=Theme | ||||
| 4 | read in a quote | past | y'all | the scariest story not said here | ever | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent story=Topic |
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: Which is the best first tip?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 6 tip | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 tip | cop |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 tip | det |
| 4 | best | good | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 6 tip | amod |
| 5 | first | first | ADJ | Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 6 tip | amod |
| 6 | tip | tip | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 7 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 6 tip | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | the best first tip | tree rules |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
Don't show the monster too soon
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Do | do | AUX | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 3 show | aux |
| 2 | n't | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 3 show | advmod |
| 3 | show | show | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 monster | det |
| 5 | monster | monster | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 show | obj |
| 6 | too | too | ADV | _ | 7 soon | advmod |
| 7 | soon | soon | ADV | Degree=Pos | 3 show | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not show | imperative · do-support | you not said here | the monster | soon property | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent monster=Recipient |
Option 2
Explain the whole ending in line one
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Explain | explain | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 ending | det |
| 3 | whole | whole | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 ending | amod |
| 4 | ending | ending | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Explain | obj |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 6 line | case |
| 6 | line | line | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Explain | obl |
| 7 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 1 Explain | ccomp |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | explain speech: assert | imperative | you not said here | the whole ending | line | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ending=Topic |
Option 3
Use "suddenly" a lot
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Use | use | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 suddenly | punct |
| 3 | suddenly | suddenly | ADV | _ | 1 Use | advmod |
| 4 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 suddenly | punct |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 lot | det |
| 6 | lot | lot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Use | obl:unmarked |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | use | imperative | you not said here | a lot | suddenly property | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
Option 4
Put the monster's name in the title
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Put | put | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 monster | det |
| 3 | monster | monster | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 name | nmod:poss |
| 4 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 3 monster | case |
| 5 | name | name | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Put | obj |
| 6 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 title | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 title | det |
| 8 | title | title | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Put | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | put | imperative | you not said here | the monster's name | the title | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent name=Theme in title=Destination | |||
| 2 | name | the monster | nom name «communication 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/42-building-tension-and-suspense/t11/