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Test 5 · ★★ · Writing to inform, instruct and persuade

A grandad in Glasgow, dry: "Yer letter to the council says 'ye numpties'. That'll work a treat." ("Numpties" means silly people.) What is he really saying?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Yer, grandad, ye, That, Numpties · What happens: letter, say, numpty, work, mean · To what, where: treat, silly people · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 5 · ★★ of lesson 44 «Writing to inform, instruct and persuade» 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 grandad in Glasgow, dry: "Yer letter to the council says 'ye numpties'.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 grandad	det
2	grandad	grandad	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 says	nsubj
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 Glasgow	case
4	Glasgow	Glasgow	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 grandad	nmod
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 dry	punct
6	dry	dry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 Glasgow	conj
7	:	:	PUNCT	_	10 letter	punct
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 letter	punct
9	Yer	yer	PRON	Person=2 PronType=Prs	10 letter	nsubj
10	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 says	nsubj
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 council	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 council	det
13	council	council	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 letter	nmod
14	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
15	'	'	PUNCT	_	17 numpties	punct
16	ye	ye	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=2 PronType=Prs Style=Arch	17 numpties	nsubj
17	numpties	numpty	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 says	obj
18	'	'	PUNCT	_	17 numpties	punct
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	14 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	letter in a quote		Yer					to the council	tree rules
2	say speech: assert in a quote	present	a grandad in Glasgow						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	numpty in a quote		ye						tree rules

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: That'll work a treat."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 work	nsubj
2	'll	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 work	aux
3	work	work	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 treat	det
5	treat	treat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 work	obj
6	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 work	punct
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 work	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	work	future	That	a treat					vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent treat=Material

Sentence 3: ("Numpties" means silly people.)

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	(	(	PUNCT	_	5 means	punct
2	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 Numpties	punct
3	Numpties	numpty	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 means	nsubj
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 Numpties	punct
5	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	silly	silly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 people	amod
7	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 means	obj
8	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 means	punct
9	)	)	PUNCT	_	5 means	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	Numpties	silly people					vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Topic

Sentence 4: What is he really saying?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	5 saying	obj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 saying	aux
3	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 saying	nsubj
4	really	really	ADV	_	5 saying	advmod
5	saying	say	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
6	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 saying	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present · progressive	grandad						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic

The options

Option 1

The council loves being called numpties

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 council	det
2	council	council	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 loves	nsubj
3	loves	love	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 called	aux:pass
5	called	call	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 numpties	acl
6	numpties	numpty	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 loves	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	love	present	the council	numpties					vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer numpty=Stimulus
2	call	gerund · passive		numpties not said here					vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Insults will not persuade the council

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Insults	insult	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 persuade	nsubj
2	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 persuade	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 persuade	advmod
4	persuade	persuade	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 council	det
6	council	council	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 persuade	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not persuade	future	Insults	the council					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent council=Patient

Option 3

The letter is perfect and very polite

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 letter	det
2	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 perfect	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 perfect	cop
4	perfect	perfect	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 polite	cc
6	very	very	ADV	_	7 polite	advmod
7	polite	polite	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 perfect	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the letter					perfect property	tree rules
2	be		the letter not said here						tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

He wants more Scottish words in it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 wants	nsubj
2	wants	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	4 Scottish	advmod
4	Scottish	Scottish	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 words	amod
5	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 wants	obj
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 it	case
7	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 wants	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	want	present	He	Scottish words		it			vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot word=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/44-writing-to-inform-instruct-and-persuade/t5/