Test 8 · ★★ · Writing to inform, instruct and persuade
★★★ "First, we lined up. Then the alarm rang. Finally, Mr Ali counted us." What kind of writing is this most likely?
Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: ★ ★ ★, alarm, Mr, kind · What happens: line up, ring, count, be · To what, where: us
This is test 8 · ★★ 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: ★★★ "First, we lined up.
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 | 8 lined | nsubj |
| 4 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 ★ | punct |
| 5 | First | first | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 3 ★ | advmod |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 ★ | punct |
| 7 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 8 lined | nsubj |
| 8 | lined | line | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | up | up | ADP | _ | 8 lined | compound:prt |
| 10 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 lined | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | line up in a quote | past | ★ ★ ★ | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=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: Then the alarm rang.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 rang | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 alarm | det |
| 3 | alarm | alarm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 rang | nsubj |
| 4 | rang | ring | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 rang | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ring | past | the alarm | then | vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
Sentence 3: Finally, Mr Ali counted us."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finally | finally | ADV | _ | 5 counted | advmod |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Finally | punct |
| 3 | Mr | Mr | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 counted | nsubj |
| 4 | Ali | Ali | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 Mr | flat |
| 5 | counted | count | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | us | we | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 5 counted | obj |
| 7 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 counted | punct |
| 8 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 5 counted | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | count | past | Mr | us | finally property | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent we=Theme |
Sentence 4: What kind of writing is this most likely?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | DET | PronType=Int | 2 kind | det |
| 2 | kind | kind | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 likely | nsubj |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 4 writing | case |
| 4 | writing | writing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 kind | nmod |
| 5 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 likely | cop |
| 6 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 8 likely | nsubj |
| 7 | most | most | ADV | Degree=Sup | 8 likely | advmod |
| 8 | likely | likely | ADV | _ | root | root |
| 9 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 8 likely | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | what kind of writing | likely property | tree rules |
The options
Option 1
A balanced argument
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 argument | det |
| 2 | balanced | balanced | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 argument | amod |
| 3 | argument | argument | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 2
Instructions
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Instructions | instruction | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3 · ← Mova's choice
A persuasive letter
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 letter | det |
| 2 | persuasive | persuasive | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 letter | amod |
| 3 | letter | letter | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
A recount
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 recount | det |
| 2 | recount | recount | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
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/t8/