Exam question 3 · SATs: grammar, punctuation and spelling paper

Ascertain which of the following constitutes the Standard English form required in the examination.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, follow, constitute, require · To what, where: Standard English, examination

This is exam question 3 of lesson 52 «SATs: grammar, punctuation and spelling paper» 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	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 constitutes	nsubj
3	of	of	SCONJ	_	6 constitutes	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 constitutes	det
5	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 constitutes	nsubj
6	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	ccomp
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 English	det
8	Standard	Standard	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 English	compound
9	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 required	nsubj:pass
10	form	form	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 required	aux:pass
11	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 constitutes	ccomp
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 examination	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 examination	det
14	examination	examination	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 required	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here			vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	constitute	present				tree rules
4	require	present · passive		the Standard English	the examination	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Precondition

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

We be late.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	We	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	3 late	nsubj
2	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	3 late	cop
3	late	late	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 late	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	infinitive	We					late property	tree rules

Option 2

We is late.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	We	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	3 late	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 late	cop
3	late	late	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 late	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	We					late property	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

We were late.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	We	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	3 late	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 late	cop
3	late	late	ADV	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 late	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	We					late property	tree rules

Option 4

We was late again.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	We	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	4 again	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 again	cop
3	late	late	ADV	Degree=Pos	4 again	advmod
4	again	again	ADV	_	root	root
5	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 again	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	We					again, late property	tree rules

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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