Test 6 · ★★ · Building tension and suspense
★★★ "I opened the door. There was nothing there. Then I heard my name — from behind me." Which two techniques are used?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: ★ ★ ★, nothing, I, my · What happens: open, be, hear, name, technique, use · To what, where: door, name, two techniques
This is test 6 · ★★ 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: ★★★ "I opened the door.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ★ | ★ | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 ★ | compound |
| 2 | ★ | ★ | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 ★ | compound |
| 3 | ★ | ★ | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 opened | nsubj |
| 4 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 opened | punct |
| 5 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 6 opened | nsubj |
| 6 | opened | open | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 door | det |
| 8 | door | door | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 opened | obj |
| 9 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 opened | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | open in a quote | past | ★ ★ ★ | the door | vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location door=Theme |
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: There was nothing there.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | There | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 2 was | expl |
| 2 | was | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 2 was | nsubj |
| 4 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 2 was | advmod |
| 5 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 was | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | be | past | nothing | there; there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
Sentence 3: Then I heard my name — from behind me."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 heard | advmod |
| 2 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 3 heard | nsubj |
| 3 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 5 name | nmod:poss |
| 5 | name | name | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 heard | obj |
| 6 | — | - | PUNCT | _ | 3 heard | punct |
| 7 | from | from | ADP | _ | 9 me | case |
| 8 | behind | behind | ADP | _ | 9 me | case |
| 9 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 3 heard | obl |
| 10 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 heard | punct |
| 11 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 heard | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hear | past | I | my name | then | from me | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent name=Topic from i=Source | ||
| 2 | name | my | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
Sentence 4: Which two techniques are used?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 3 techniques | nsubj |
| 2 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 3 techniques | nummod |
| 3 | techniques | technique | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 used | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 used | aux:pass |
| 5 | used | use | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 5 used | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | technique | tree rules | |||||||
| 2 | use | present · passive | two techniques | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
A fairy-tale opening and a long list of colours
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 tale | det |
| 2 | fairy | fairy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 tale | compound |
| 3 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 2 fairy | punct |
| 4 | tale | tale | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 5 | opening | open | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 4 tale | acl |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 list | cc |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 list | det |
| 8 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 list | amod |
| 9 | list | list | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 tale | conj |
| 10 | of | of | ADP | _ | 11 colours | case |
| 11 | colours | colour | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 list | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | open | gerund | a fairy tale and a long list of colours not said here | vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | list | colours | nom list «communication transitive»: of=patient |
Option 2
A long list and a rhetorical question
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 list | det |
| 2 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 list | amod |
| 3 | list | list | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 question | cc |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 question | det |
| 6 | rhetorical | rhetorical | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 question | amod |
| 7 | question | question | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 list | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3
A happy ending and lots of adjectives
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 ending | det |
| 2 | happy | happy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 ending | amod |
| 3 | ending | ending | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 lots | cc |
| 5 | lots | lot | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 ending | conj |
| 6 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 adjectives | case |
| 7 | adjectives | adjective | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 lots | nmod |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
Short sentences and a held-back surprise
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Short | short | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 sentences | amod |
| 2 | sentences | sentence | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
| 3 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 surprise | cc |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 surprise | det |
| 5 | held | hold | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 surprise | amod |
| 6 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 5 held | punct |
| 7 | back | back | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 surprise | amod |
| 8 | surprise | surprise | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 sentences | conj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hold | participle | vn exist-47.1 «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/42-building-tension-and-suspense/t6/