Retrieval: finding the answer in the text

Tests: 2 of 11 right · Exam: 0 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 6 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 17 of the english course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · wrong ✗

«miss the answer's literally first line, done, ez». Should you stop reading after the first line every time?

1. Yes, answers are always in the first line — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. No, answers can be anywhere, so check the part the question points to — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Yes, the first paragraph has all the answers, because the writer puts them there first — no support
4. No, the answer is always at the very end — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · right ✓

Mia writes 3:15 for «When did the bus arrive?» What did she do wrong?

1. Nothing, she copied the number from the text — no support
2. She copied when it left, not when it arrived — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
3. She should have written twenty past three — no support
4. She added the 20 minutes the wrong way round — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 17, line 4: «Some answers need one small step. «The bus left at 3:15 and arrived 20 minutes later.» When did it arrive? Not 3:15: that is when it left. Add 20 minutes and y…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «leave» (+2); the same doer «bus» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · right ✓

★★★ Text: «Ana left home at 8:50. The walk to school took a quarter of an hour, but she stopped for 5 minutes to tie her lace.» When did Ana get to school?

1. 9:10 — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. 9:05 — no support
3. 9:15 — no support
4. 8:55 — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · wrong ✗

★★★ Text: «Rain fell on Monday. Tuesday was dry but cold, 4°C. Wednesday was sunny, 9°C.» Kit says Monday was the coldest day. What's the best reply?

1. Yes, rain always means the coldest day of the week — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The text doesn't give Monday's temperature, so we can't tell — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. No, Wednesday was the coldest because it was sunny — no support
4. Yes, because Monday comes first in the text — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · wrong ✗

«the fox lives in the woods, obvs, foxes always do». What's the problem with this answer?

1. It uses a capital letter in the wrong place — ← Mova's choice · score 2
2. It's too short for a two-mark question — no support
3. It comes from guessing, not from the words in the text — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Foxes never live in woods, they only live in towns, so the answer is untrue — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 14, line 5: «These words live in letters and formal writing. A polite letter ending «Yours sincerely» that suggests a sufficient number of chairs uses three list words at o…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «use» (+3); it fills the role the question asks for (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · wrong ✗

Max says, «Find and copy one word that shows the house was old: crumbling house leaned.» What went wrong?

1. Nothing, more words get more marks — ← Mova's choice · score 8
2. He picked a word that isn't in the text — score 8
3. He spelt «crumbling» wrong in his answer — no support
4. He copied three words instead of one — ✓ the right answer · score 6

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 8, tied with another option at 8 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 10, line 10: «Silent letters often show how words were said long ago: the k in «knife» was once spoken.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+5); the same doer «silent letters» (+3). The right option, 4, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · wrong ✗

★★★ Text: «Pip has two cats, Mo and Bea. Mo is black. Bea is grey with a white tail.» Q: «What colour is Pip's grey cat's tail?»

1. Black — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Grey — no support
3. The text doesn't say — no support
4. White — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · wrong ✗

In a cartoon, a detective solves a case without looking at the clues, from «a gut feeling». In a retrieval test, what works?

1. Answering from what usually happens — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Writing the longest answer you can — no support
3. Trusting a gut feeling over the words — no support
4. Finding the exact words in the text — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · wrong ✗

Dad: «Don't make me do it for you, where's it say that, then?» Why is this good help?

1. It's just a clever way for Dad to avoid helping with the homework at all — no support
2. The child should know it without looking — ← Mova's choice · score 4
3. It makes the child find the evidence in the text — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. It means the answer isn't in the text at all — no support

Why: It took the question to ask where. It chose option 2 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 2, line 11: «A child who does not reach the expected mark gets extra help and takes the check again in Year 2.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «child» (+2); the same thing acted on «extra help» (+2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · wrong ✗

Text: «Hedgehogs eat beetles, worms and slugs.» Q: «Name two things hedgehogs eat.» Which answer gets the mark?

1. Slugs and stuff like that — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Worms and slugs — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Things in the garden — no support
4. Bugs and food — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · wrong ✗

«skibidi this text is massive, i'm not reading all that». What does «skibidi» mean here?

1. It's slang that means the text is really brilliant — ← Mova's choice · score 10
2. It's a type of question — no support
3. Nothing, it's a word kids shout — ✓ the right answer · score 8
4. It means the text is too short — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 10, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 17, line 16: «Slang: «heaps» (Australian) means many; «sound» (Liverpool) means fine or good; «skibidi» is a word some children shout that has no real meaning.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «mean» (+6); the same doer «slang» (+5). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). The right option, 3, scored 8. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the principal characteristic of a retrieval question.

1. It solicits the reader's personal opinion of the text — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It requires knowledge obtained from beyond the text — no support
3. It requires information stated explicitly within the text — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. It invites the reader to conjecture what may happen subsequently — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

It is stated that a vehicle departed at a quarter past three and arrived twenty minutes thereafter. Ascertain the time of arrival.

1. A quarter past three — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Five minutes to four — no support
3. Twenty past three — no support
4. Twenty-five minutes to four — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the instruction «find and copy one word».

1. The entire sentence containing the word in question should be reproduced in full — ← Mova's choice · score 0
2. A single word must be transcribed exactly as it appears in the text — ✓ the right answer · score -1
3. Any two words from the relevant paragraph are acceptable — no support
4. A synonym of one's own choosing is to be supplied — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 0, against -1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 17, line 3: «The fast way: underline the key word in the question (time, buy, where), then scan, which means running your eyes quickly over the text looking only for that w…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «key word» (+1); the same place «question» (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1); a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 2, scored -1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Whereas a table records twelve degrees for Monday and fifteen degrees for Tuesday, determine which day was the warmer.

1. Monday — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Tuesday — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Neither, the temperatures being equal — no support
4. Indeterminable from tabulated data — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

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