Exam question 2 · Handwriting: holding the pencil and joining up
Identify the principal reason for which illegible handwriting is disadvantageous in a written examination.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, illegible handwriting · What happens: identify, be, write · To what, where: principal reason, written examination
This is exam question 2 of lesson 5 «Handwriting: holding the pencil and joining up» 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 | Identify | identify | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 reason | det |
| 3 | principal | principal | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 reason | amod |
| 4 | reason | reason | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Identify | obj |
| 5 | for | for | ADP | _ | 6 which | case |
| 6 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 10 disadvantageous | obl |
| 7 | illegible | illegible | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 handwriting | amod |
| 8 | handwriting | handwriting | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 disadvantageous | nsubj |
| 9 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 disadvantageous | cop |
| 10 | disadvantageous | disadvantageous | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 reason | acl |
| 11 | in | in | ADP | _ | 14 examination | case |
| 12 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 14 examination | det |
| 13 | written | write | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 14 examination | amod |
| 14 | examination | examination | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 disadvantageous | obl |
| 15 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Identify | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | identify | imperative | you not said here | the principal reason | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme | ||||
| 2 | is | present | illegible handwriting | a written examination | for the principal reason; disadvantageous property | tree rules | |||
| 3 | write | participle | vn scribble-25.2-1 «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
The examiner is obliged to award full marks regardless
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 examiner | det |
| 2 | examiner | examiner | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 obliged | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 obliged | aux:pass |
| 4 | obliged | oblige | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 award | mark |
| 6 | award | award | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 obliged | xcomp |
| 7 | full | full | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 marks | amod |
| 8 | marks | mark | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 award | obj |
| 9 | regardless | regardless | ADV | _ | 6 award | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | oblige | present · passive | the examiner | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result | |||||
| 2 | award | to-infinitive | full marks | regardless property | vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent mark=Theme |
Option 2
Illegible handwriting is invariably penalised with a fine
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Illegible | illegible | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 handwriting | amod |
| 2 | handwriting | handwriting | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 penalised | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 penalised | aux:pass |
| 4 | invariably | invariably | ADV | _ | 5 penalised | advmod |
| 5 | penalised | penalis | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | with | with | ADP | _ | 8 fine | case |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 fine | det |
| 8 | fine | fine | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 penalised | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | penalis | present · passive | Illegible handwriting | with a fine; invariably property | tree rules |
Option 3
Illegible handwriting causes the paper to be destroyed
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Illegible | illegible | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 handwriting | amod |
| 2 | handwriting | handwriting | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 causes | nsubj |
| 3 | causes | cause | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 paper | det |
| 5 | paper | paper | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 causes | obj |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 8 destroyed | mark |
| 7 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 8 destroyed | aux:pass |
| 8 | destroyed | destroy | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 causes | advcl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | cause | present | Illegible handwriting | the paper | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition paper=Patient | ||||
| 2 | destroy | to-infinitive · passive | Illegible handwriting not said here | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP» |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
An answer which the examiner cannot read cannot be awarded marks
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | An | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 answer | det |
| 2 | answer | answer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 awarded | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 8 read | obj |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 examiner | det |
| 5 | examiner | examiner | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 read | nsubj |
| 6 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 8 read | aux |
| 7 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 8 read | advmod |
| 8 | read | read | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 answer | acl:relcl |
| 9 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 12 awarded | aux |
| 10 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 12 awarded | advmod |
| 11 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 12 awarded | aux:pass |
| 12 | awarded | award | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 13 | marks | mark | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 awarded | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not read | can | the examiner | a answer | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Topic | ||||
| 2 | not award | can · passive | a answer | vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: subject=Goal mark=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/5-handwriting-holding-the-pencil-and-joining-up/e2/