Persuasive letters, newspaper articles and diaries
Tests: 3 of 10 right · Exam: 3 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 6 of 14 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 24 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 ✗
«Surely you agree?» Does the writer want an actual answer?
- 1. No, it's a full stop — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. No, it's a rhetorical question to push you to agree — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Yes, it's a quiz — no support
- 4. Yes, the head must write back with an answer to the question — 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 · ★★ · wrong ✗
★★ Which headline is best for an article about a dog that found a lost child?
- 1. HERO DOG FINDS LOST BOY — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Find out about dogs — no support
- 3. Dogs — no support
- 4. A dog found a little boy who had been lost for a while near the park on Tuesday — ← Mova's choice · score 6
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 22, line 4: «Small marks can carry big meaning. «Ravi pretended he wasn't scared of the dark. But every night he left the hall light on "by accident".» The quotation marks…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «wee little boy» (+3). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★★ · wrong ✗
★★ Which line belongs in a diary, not a newspaper?
- 1. Nine-year-old Ella Brown rescued six ducklings — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. I was so embarrassed I wanted to hide — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. «It was terrifying,» said Mrs Patel — no support
- 4. Police said the road will reopen on Friday — 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 ✗
★★★ A leaflet says: «Sunnybay has 3 cafés, a lifeguard and the best sand on Earth!» Which part can be checked as a fact?
- 1. None of it, because leaflets never contain facts — score 4
- 2. It has 3 cafés and a lifeguard — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Every part of it — ← Mova's choice · score 9
- 4. It has the best sand on Earth — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 9, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 23, line 4: «Dad builds a bookcase without reading the instructions, and it wobbles. Reading every step before you start saves trouble. And reports should be facts, things…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+5); the same action «check» (+4). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★★ · wrong ✗
★★★ Paper A: «Brave Rovers fought hard but lost 2–1 to lucky City.» Paper B: «City deserved their 2–1 win over Rovers.» What is the one fact both agree on?
- 1. Rovers were brave — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. City were lucky — no support
- 3. City deserved to win — no support
- 4. City won 2–1 — ✓ 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 6 · ★★ · right ✓
«this letter ate, it's so convincing». What should you add to make this a good comment?
- 1. Which parts persuade and why — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. The date — no support
- 3. More slang — no support
- 4. The writer's address — 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 7 · ★★ · wrong ✗
In a cartoon, a newspaper headline says «MAN BITES DOG!» and everyone believes it at once. What should a careful reader do?
- 1. Only read the photos and the captions under them — ← Mova's choice · score 7
- 2. Ignore all newspapers forever — no support
- 3. Read the article and check other reports — ✓ the right answer · score 7
- 4. Believe all headlines — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 1 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 24, line 2: «Persuaders exaggerate. A leaflet says «Visit Sunnybay! The best beach in the world!» Mia asks, «Is it really the best?» Good question: nobody can prove it. «Ev…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same action «say» (+3). The right option, 3, scored 7. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★★ · right ✓
What would happen to a newspaper article with no quotes from anyone?
- 1. It might feel less real and harder to trust — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. It would become a diary — no support
- 3. It would be against the law — no support
- 4. It would be longer — 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 ✗
Mia writes a persuasive letter: «Give us a pet hamster. It's good.» How could she make it more persuasive?
- 1. Write it all in capitals — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Add «Dear Diary» at the start of the letter — no support
- 3. Give reasons, like «it teaches us to care» — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Make it shorter still — 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 10 · ★★ · right ✓
«Dear Diary, I'm gutted, we lost again.» What does gutted mean?
- 1. Very disappointed — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Very tired — no support
- 3. Very hungry — no support
- 4. Very happy — 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 1 · formal language · right ✓
Identify the persuasive device employed in the sentence «Surely you agree?»
- 1. A caption — no support
- 2. A glossary entry — no support
- 3. A rhetorical question — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
- 4. A numbered instruction of the kind found in a recipe — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 24, line 7: «A rhetorical question is asked for effect and doesn't expect an answer, like «Surely you agree?»», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «rhetorical question» (+2); the same property (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the opening paragraph of a newspaper article?
- 1. It is invariably a quotation — ← Mova's choice · score 7
- 2. It conveys who, what, when and where — ✓ the right answer · score 5
- 3. It contains the moral of the story — score 5
- 4. It records the private feelings of the journalist concerning the events described — score 5
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 7, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 24, line 10: «The first paragraph of a news article usually tells who, what, when and where.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «first paragraph» (+3). The right option, 2, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓
Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the assertion «Everyone knows homework is pointless».
- 1. It is an opinion presented as though it were a fact — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 2. It is a headline — no support
- 3. It is a verifiable fact — score 5
- 4. It is a rhetorical question — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 6, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 24, line 2: «Persuaders exaggerate. A leaflet says «Visit Sunnybay! The best beach in the world!» Mia asks, «Is it really the best?» Good question: nobody can prove it. «Ev…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «opinion» (+4); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓
Ascertain the feature by which a diary may most readily be distinguished from a newspaper report.
- 1. Its personal, first-person account of feelings — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Its columns — no support
- 3. Its quotations from witnesses who were present at the scene — no support
- 4. Its use of a headline — 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
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/english/24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries/