Exam question 4 · Handwriting: holding the pencil and joining up

Ascertain the relation which subsists between handwriting and composition in the assessment of pupils' writing.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, relation, pupils · What happens: ascertain, subsist, assess, write · To what, where: relation, writing

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 relation	det
3	relation	relation	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 subsists	nsubj
5	subsists	subsist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 relation	acl:relcl
6	between	between	ADP	_	7 handwriting	case
7	handwriting	handwriting	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 subsists	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 composition	cc
9	composition	composition	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 handwriting	conj
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 assessment	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 assessment	det
12	assessment	assessment	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 composition	nmod
13	of	of	ADP	_	16 writing	case
14	pupils	pupil	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 writing	nmod:poss
15	'	's	PART	_	14 pupils	case
16	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 assessment	nmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the relation		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent relation=Topic
2	subsist	present	the relation		between handwriting and composition in the assessment of pupils's writing	vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent
3	assess			pupils's writing		nom assessment «cognition transitive»: of=patient
4	write		pupils			nom writing «act transitive»: poss=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

They constitute one skill and are assessed together

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 constitute	nsubj
2	constitute	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 skill	nummod
4	skill	skill	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitute	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 assessed	cc
6	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 assessed	aux:pass
7	assessed	assess	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 constitute	conj
8	together	together	ADV	_	7 assessed	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	present	They	one skill					vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme skill=Pivot
2	assess	present · passive	They not said here					together property	vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V whether/if S»

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

They are distinct skills which are assessed separately

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 skills	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 skills	cop
3	distinct	distinct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 skills	amod
4	skills	skill	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 assessed	nsubj:pass
6	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 assessed	aux:pass
7	assessed	assess	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 skills	acl:relcl
8	separately	separately	ADV	_	7 assessed	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	distinct skills					tree rules
2	assess	present · passive		distinct skills				separately property	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3

Composition is assessed solely by reference to handwriting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Composition	composition	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 assessed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 assessed	aux:pass
3	assessed	assess	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 assessed	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 reference	case
6	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 assessed	obl
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 handwriting	case
8	handwriting	handwriting	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 assessed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	assess	present · passive	reference	Composition				to handwriting; solely property	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 4

Handwriting is not assessed in any circumstances

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Handwriting	handwriting	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 assessed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 assessed	aux:pass
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 assessed	advmod
4	assessed	assess	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 circumstances	case
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 circumstances	det
7	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 assessed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not assess	present · passive		Handwriting		any circumstances			vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: subject=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.

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