Exam question 3 · Putting it together: reading and writing like a writer
It is given that a pupil must report one event to a friend and to the head teacher. Determine the appropriate course.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: pupil, you · What happens: give, report, determine · To what, where: It, one event, friend, appropriate course
This is exam question 3 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
Sentence 1: It is given that a pupil must report one event to a friend and to the head teacher.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 given | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | aux:pass |
| 3 | given | give | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 8 report | mark |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 pupil | det |
| 6 | pupil | pupil | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 report | nsubj |
| 7 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 8 report | aux |
| 8 | report | report | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 given | advcl |
| 9 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 10 event | nummod |
| 10 | event | event | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 report | obj |
| 11 | to | to | ADP | _ | 13 friend | case |
| 12 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 friend | det |
| 13 | friend | friend | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 report | obl |
| 14 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 teacher | cc |
| 15 | to | to | ADP | _ | 18 teacher | case |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 teacher | det |
| 17 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 teacher | compound |
| 18 | teacher | teacher | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 friend | conj |
| 19 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 given | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | give | present · passive | It | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 2 | report | must | a pupil | one event | a friend and the head teacher | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent event=Topic to friend=Recipient |
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: Determine the appropriate course.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Determine | determine | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 course | det |
| 3 | appropriate | appropriate | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 course | amod |
| 4 | course | course | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Determine | obj |
| 5 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Determine | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | determine | imperative | you not said here | the appropriate course | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent course=Topic |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Employ identical wording for both
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Employ | employ | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | identical | identical | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 wording | amod |
| 3 | wording | wording | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Employ | obj |
| 4 | for | for | ADP | _ | 5 both | case |
| 5 | both | both | DET | PronType=Tot | 1 Employ | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | employ | imperative | you not said here | identical wording | for both | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: agent=Agent wording=Theme for both=Eventuality |
Option 2
Write formally to the friend alone
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Write | write | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | formally | formally | ADV | _ | 1 Write | advmod |
| 3 | to | to | ADP | _ | 5 friend | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 friend | det |
| 5 | friend | friend | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Write | obl |
| 6 | alone | alone | ADV | _ | 1 Write | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | write | imperative | you not said here | the friend | alone, formally property | vn lecture-37.11-1 «NP V PP.recipient PP.topic»: agent=Agent to friend=Recipient |
Option 3
Omit the report to the head teacher
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Omit | omit | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 report | det |
| 3 | report | report | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Omit | obj |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 7 teacher | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 teacher | det |
| 6 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 teacher | compound |
| 7 | teacher | teacher | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Omit | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | omit | imperative | you not said here | the report | to the head teacher | vn exclude-107.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent report=Theme |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
Adjust the register to suit each reader
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adjust | adjust | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 register | det |
| 3 | register | register | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Adjust | obj |
| 4 | to | to | PART | _ | 5 suit | mark |
| 5 | suit | suit | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 1 Adjust | advcl |
| 6 | each | each | DET | PronType=Tot | 7 reader | det |
| 7 | reader | reader | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 suit | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | adjust | imperative | you not said here | the register | vn adjust-26.9 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent register=Patient | ||||
| 2 | suit | to-infinitive | you not said here | each reader | 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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/54-reading-and-writing-like-a-writer/e3/