Test 8 · Handwriting: holding the pencil and joining up

«no-one writes by hand any more, it's all phones». Why might joining up still help?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: one, hand · What happens: write, be, join up, help · To what, where: phones

This is test 8 of lesson 5 «Handwriting: holding the pencil and joining up» 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: «no-one writes by hand any more, it's all phones».

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	5 writes	punct
2	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 one	det
3	-	-	PUNCT	_	2 no	punct
4	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 writes	nsubj
5	writes	write	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 hand	case
7	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 writes	obl
8	any	any	ADV	_	9 more	advmod
9	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	5 writes	advmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 phones	punct
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 phones	nsubj
12	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 phones	cop
13	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	14 phones	det
14	phones	phone	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 writes	parataxis
15	»	»	PUNCT	_	14 phones	punct
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 writes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	write in a quote	present	no one					by hand	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	is a in a quote	present	hand	all phones					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: Why might joining up still help?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	3 joining	advmod
2	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 joining	aux
3	joining	join	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	up	up	ADP	_	3 joining	compound:prt
5	still	still	ADV	_	6 help	advmod
6	help	help	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 joining	advcl
7	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 joining	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	join up	might							vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	help	infinitive					still		vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent

The options

Option 1

Joining is only for tidiness and does nothing else

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Joining	joining	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 tidiness	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 tidiness	cop
3	only	only	ADV	_	5 tidiness	advmod
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 tidiness	case
5	tidiness	tidiness	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 does	cc
7	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 tidiness	conj
8	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	7 does	obj
9	else	else	ADV	_	8 nothing	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Joining					for tidiness	tree rules
2	do	present	Joining not said here	nothing					vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Eventuality

Option 2

Phones will be banned soon, so handwriting is the only way

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Phones	phone	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 banned	nsubj:pass
2	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 banned	aux
3	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 banned	aux:pass
4	banned	ban	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	soon	soon	ADV	Degree=Pos	4 banned	advmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 way	punct
7	so	so	ADV	_	12 way	advmod
8	handwriting	handwriting	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 way	nsubj
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 way	cop
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 way	det
11	only	only	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 way	amod
12	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 banned	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ban	future · passive		Phones				soon property	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	is a	present	handwriting	the only way					tree rules

Option 3

Joined letters are easier for computers and phones to read when they scan a page

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Joined	join	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 letters	amod
2	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 easier	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 easier	cop
4	easier	easy	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 computers	case
6	computers	computer	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 easier	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 phones	cc
8	phones	phone	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 computers	conj
9	to	to	PART	_	10 read	mark
10	read	read	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 easier	advcl
11	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	13 scan	advmod
12	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 scan	nsubj
13	scan	scan	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 read	advcl
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 page	det
15	page	page	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 scan	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	join	participle				vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	is	present	Joined letters		for computers and phones; easy property	tree rules
3	read	to-infinitive	Joined letters not said here			vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	scan	present	letters = letter	a page		vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent page=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The hand learns letter groups, which helps spelling and speed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 hand	det
2	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 learns	nsubj
3	learns	learn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 groups	compound
5	groups	group	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 learns	obj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 helps	punct
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 helps	nsubj
8	helps	help	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 learns	parataxis
9	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 helps	obj
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 speed	cc
11	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 spelling	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	learn	present	the hand	letter groups					vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent group=Topic
2	help	present		spelling and speed					vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spelling=Beneficiary

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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