Planning before writing
Tests: 5 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 8 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 39 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 "planning is for people who can't write, mate." What is the truth?
- 1. Only weak writers who can't write ever need a plan — no support
- 2. Planning is only for maths — no support
- 3. Plans make writing worse every single time you use them — ← Mova's choice · score 2
- 4. Strong writers plan so their writing has a shape — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 39, line 4: «A plan should be quick: three or four words for each part are enough, and small children can plan in pictures, called a storyboard; a beautiful colour-coded pl…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same doer «beautiful coded plan» (+2); the same property (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · right ✓
★★★ A 40-minute test: which plan of time is most sensible?
- 1. 5 minutes planning, 30 writing, 5 checking — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
- 2. 30 minutes planning, 10 writing — no support
- 3. 20 planning, 20 checking, no writing — no support
- 4. 0 planning, 40 writing, no checking — no support
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 39, line 4: «A plan should be quick: three or four words for each part are enough, and small children can plan in pictures, called a storyboard; a beautiful colour-coded pl…», 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 «plan» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · wrong ✗
In a cartoon, a knight sets off on a quest with no map and rides in circles for years. What does this show about writing?
- 1. Maps are only useful for real journeys on horses — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Riding a horse is always better than writing — no support
- 3. Without a plan you can go round in circles — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Knights in armour cannot write any stories well — 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 · right ✓
What would happen if Kai used a story mountain for his shark facts?
- 1. It would be the perfect plan for any set of facts — no support
- 2. It would fit badly; facts suit a mind map — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 3. The sharks would have to fight a big battle in it — no support
- 4. Nothing, because all plans are exactly the same — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 39, line 3: «Stories often use a story mountain: the opening at the bottom, the build-up climbing, the problem at the top, then the resolution and the ending on the way dow…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «suit» (+4); the same thing acted on «mind map» (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · wrong ✗
★★★ Grace's story ended "and then they all died, the end." Which part of the story mountain did she skip?
- 1. The title — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The resolution — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. The opening — no support
- 4. The build-up — 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 ✗
Your sister, bit sarky: "Wow, a plan. Did a robot write your homework?" What is the best reply?
- 1. Only robots and computers ever plan things — no support
- 2. Yes, only robots ever write plans for their homework — ← Mova's choice · score 10
- 3. Plans are banned at home by the school rules — score 3
- 4. Planning is how writers think before writing — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 10, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 39, line 5: «Every plan starts with two questions: who will read this, and why am I writing it? A letter to the council needs a different voice from a note to your best mat…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «write» (+6); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «plan» (+1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · wrong ✗
A boy in Sydney: "Gonna smash this story out this arvo, no plan." ("Arvo" is afternoon.) What is the risk?
- 1. Afternoons are bad for writing — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Nothing, plans never help — no support
- 3. He will write too much — no support
- 4. He may get stuck or have no ending — ✓ 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 · right ✓
★★★ Which plan fits a letter to a head teacher asking for a longer break?
- 1. Opening, monster attack, escape, ending — no support
- 2. Rhyme, rhythm, verse, chorus — score 2
- 3. Character, setting, dragon, twist — no support
- 4. Reason 1, reason 2, reason 3, polite request — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
Why: It took the question to ask a circumstance (with what, when, how). It chose option 4 with score 8, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 24, line 1: «A persuasive text tries to change your mind. «Dear Head Teacher, I am writing to ask for a longer lunch break. Firstly, children need time to eat. Secondly, ex…», 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 circumstance (+3); a different action (counts against) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · right ✓
A Gen Alpha kid says "storyboards are just comics, they're mid." ("Mid" means not very good.) What is true?
- 1. Storyboards are real plans used by film makers too — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 2
- 2. Comics can never help anyone with their writing — no support
- 3. Storyboards are only used in maths lessons at school — no support
- 4. Storyboards are only for babies who can't write yet — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 39, line 10: «A storyboard is a plan made of pictures in boxes, like a comic; it suits young writers and anyone who thinks in pictures, and film makers plan their films with…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «storyboard» (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · wrong ✗
Which question should come first when planning a piece of writing?
- 1. What is my favourite word? — ← Mova's choice · score 7
- 2. Who is it for, and why? — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. How many pages can I fill? — no support
- 4. What colour pen do I use? — score 3
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 7, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 1, line 6: «Every letter has a name (ay, bee, see) and a sound (/a/, /b/, /k/); for reading, the sound comes first.», 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 «letter» (+3). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · right ✓
A lad from Leeds says "Me plan's well short, three words a box." ("Well" means very.) Is that fine?
- 1. Yes, a short plan is enough — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. No, every box needs a page — no support
- 3. No, plans must be in sentences — no support
- 4. Yes, but only if the boxes are blue — 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 · wrong ✗
Identify the principal purpose of planning prior to composition.
- 1. To eliminate entirely the need for any subsequent writing — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. To determine content and order before writing — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. To lengthen considerably the time expended on a task — no support
- 4. To decorate the page prior to its submission for marking — 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 · right ✓
Which of the following most accurately characterises a story mountain?
- 1. Opening, build-up, problem, resolution and ending — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. A diagram of the rhymes in a poem — no support
- 3. A list of facts arranged in alphabetical order — no support
- 4. A table of tenses for each verb — 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 planning format most appropriate in respect of a non-chronological report.
- 1. A sequence of rhyming couplets arranged by stanza — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. A mind map with a branch for each sub-topic — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. A single uninterrupted sentence of considerable length — no support
- 4. A story mountain culminating in a dramatic climax — 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 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
Ascertain the two considerations, hereinafter termed audience and purpose, that ought to precede any plan.
- 1. Who is to read the text, and why it is written — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Which title, and which font — no support
- 3. How many words, and how many pages — ← Mova's choice · score 4
- 4. Which pen is used, and how neatly — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 10, line 1: «The old rhyme says «i before e except after c». It works well for the /ee/ sound: believe, field, piece, and after c, receive, ceiling, deceive. But it is a gu…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same property (+3); the same doer «many ei words» (+1). The right option, 1, 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/39-planning-before-writing/