Exam question 2 · Putting it together: reading and writing like a writer

Select the response that most accurately characterises a "twist".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, most · What happens: select, characteris · To what, where: response, twist

This is exam question 2 of lesson 54 «Putting it together: reading and writing like a writer» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 characterises	mark
5	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	7 characterises	nsubj
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	5 most	advmod
7	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Select	advcl
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 twist	det
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 twist	punct
10	twist	twist	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 characterises	obj
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 twist	punct
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response					vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	characteris	present	most	a twist					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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

An opening designed to engage the reader

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 opening	det
2	opening	opening	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 designed	nsubj:pass
3	designed	design	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 engage	mark
5	engage	engage	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 designed	advcl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 reader	det
7	reader	reader	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 engage	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	design	participle · passive		a opening					vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result
2	engage	to-infinitive		the reader					vn amalgamate-22.2-3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reader=Patient

Option 2

A description of the weather of the setting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 description	det
2	description	description	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 weather	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 weather	det
5	weather	weather	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 description	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 setting	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 setting	det
8	setting	setting	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 weather	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	describe			the weather of the setting					nom description «communication transitive»: of=patient
2	weather			the setting					nom weather «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

A list of characters set before the text

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 list	det
2	list	list	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 characters	case
4	characters	character	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 list	nmod
5	set	set	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 characters	acl
6	before	before	ADP	_	8 text	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 text	det
8	text	text	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 set	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	set	participle		characters not said here		the text			vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent before text=Destination
2	list			characters					nom list «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

A surprise that alters the story's meaning

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 surprise	det
2	surprise	surprise	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 alters	nsubj
4	alters	alter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 surprise	acl:relcl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 story	det
6	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 meaning	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 story	case
8	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 alters	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	alter	present	a surprise	the story's meaning					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent meaning=Patient
2	mean		the story						nom meaning «communication transitive»: poss=agent

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/54-reading-and-writing-like-a-writer/e2/