Paragraphs and cohesion: holding a text together
Tests: 5 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 7 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 37 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 ✗
Your mate goes "paragraphs are just there so the page looks less scary, bruv." What is the truth?
- 1. They show the writer is tired — no support
- 2. They are only there to look nice on the page — no support
- 3. They group ideas so the reader can follow — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. They are only needed in poems and songs — ← Mova's choice · score 1
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 37, line 9: «The first sentence of a paragraph often tells the reader what it is about; it is called a topic sentence.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+1). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★ · right ✓
★★★ A story goes: (1) At home, Mia packs. (2) On the train, she reads. (3) Still on the train, a man sits down. (4) The next morning, in Paris, she wakes. How many paragraphs by TiPToP, if a new person arriving counts?
- 1. Four — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Three — no support
- 3. Two — no support
- 4. One — 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 3 · ★ · wrong ✗
In a cartoon, a boy writes his whole holiday diary as one line on a long roll of paper. What would a teacher tell him?
- 1. Use a longer roll so it fits — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Use smaller letters to save paper — no support
- 3. Write it backwards for fun — no support
- 4. Break it into paragraphs by day and place — ✓ 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 4 · ★ · wrong ✗
What would happen if a writer used "he" all the way through a story about three boys?
- 1. It would become a non-fiction report — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Readers would get confused about who does what — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Nothing, readers can always guess — no support
- 4. The story would be much clearer and a lot shorter to read — 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 ✗
A Scottish nan says "Yer story's braw, hen, but it's aw wan lump." ("Braw" is lovely, "hen" a friendly word, "aw wan lump" is all one lump.) What does she want?
- 1. A shorter title — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Bigger handwriting — no support
- 3. More pictures — no support
- 4. Paragraphs — ✓ 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 · ★ · wrong ✗
★★★ Which sentence starts a paragraph that clearly follows one about breakfast?
- 1. Then then we set off. — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The lake is a big lake. — no support
- 3. After breakfast, we set off for the lake. — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. We set off for the lake. — 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 · ★ · right ✓
Your brother, bit sharp: "Stop starting every sentence with 'then', it's doing my head in." What could you use instead?
- 1. Nothing, "then" is the only option — no support
- 2. More "then"s, but written in big capital letters — no support
- 3. Time openers like "After that" or "By noon" — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 4. Question marks after each "then" — score 6
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 6, tied with another option at 6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 26, line 17: «Joining two sentences with only a comma is a comma splice; use a full stop or a joining word instead.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «use» (+6); the same property (+1). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★ · wrong ✗
A boy in Georgia writes "Y'all, I got three reasons." ("Y'all" means you all.) In a formal report, which opening works better?
- 1. There are three main reasons. — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Three things or whatever. — score 4
- 3. Y'all, here's my reasons, innit. — ← Mova's choice · score 6
- 4. Reasons, reasons, reasons. — score 4
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 16, line 17: «Slang: «cringe» means embarrassing; «y'all» (southern US) means you all; «that book ate» (Gen Z slang) means it was excellent.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «y'all» (+2). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★ · right ✓
★★★ In a report on owls, paragraph 2 is about food and paragraph 3 begins "Their sharp claws are not only for hunting." Why is that a clever link?
- 1. It repeats the title of the whole report — score 3
- 2. It shows the report has ended — no support
- 3. It joins the food idea to the new topic of body — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 4. It starts a new story about owls — score 3
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 37, line 16: «A long paragraph is not wrong, but a paragraph that mixes several ideas is hard to follow.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «several ideas» (+3); the same doer «paragraph» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★ · right ✓
A cousin from Sydney says "My report's got heaps of headings, mate." ("Heaps" means lots.) When are headings most useful?
- 1. Only at the end, as a summary of everything — no support
- 2. In information texts, to sort facts by topic — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 0
- 3. Only in poems, above each verse — no support
- 4. In every line of a story, to make it look neat — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 0, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 23, line 11: «A report gives facts about a topic, grouped by idea rather than by time.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same circumstance (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★ · right ✓
Which ordering signposts belong together in a non-fiction text?
- 1. Once, upon, time — score 6
- 2. Suddenly, crash, bang — score 6
- 3. Firstly, secondly, finally — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
- 4. However, cats, purr — score 6
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 7, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 36, line 4: «A semicolon is a bridge between two full sentences that belong together ("It rained; we stayed in"), and it can also sort a long list whose items already conta…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «belong» (+6); the same property (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓
Identify the principal function of a paragraph.
- 1. To group sentences concerning a single main idea — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. To indicate that a sentence is a question — no support
- 3. To mark the omission of letters — no support
- 4. To separate the items of a list — 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 ✗
Which of the following most accurately characterises the mnemonic "TiPToP"?
- 1. A list of the four types of sentence — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. A method for the spelling of plurals — no support
- 3. A rule for the placement of apostrophes — no support
- 4. A reminder to commence a new paragraph upon a change of time, place, topic or person — ✓ 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 consistent with established conventions concerning cohesion.
- 1. Cohesion is achieved solely by the use of full stops — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Cohesion requires every sentence to begin with "then" — no support
- 3. Pronouns, adverbials and repeated key words link a text together — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Cohesion is relevant only to poetry — no support
Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
Ascertain the defect in the sentence "Tom met Sam and he laughed".
- 1. The sentence contains a comma splice — score 0
- 2. The referent of "he" is ambiguous — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. The verb "met" is in the future tense — ← Mova's choice · score 1
- 4. The sentence lacks a verb — score 0
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 1, against 0 for the next best. Its support: lesson 20, line 1: «You do not need to know every word to understand a text. When you meet a new word, read the words around it: they are its context, and they leave clues. «The c…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «meet» (+1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/english/37-paragraphs-and-cohesion-holding-a-text-together/