---
title: Identify the principal characteristic of a retrieval question. — Retrieval: finding the answer in the t… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal characteristic of a retrieval question. Exam question 1 of lesson 17 «Retrieval: finding the answer in the text» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Exam question 1 · Retrieval: finding the answer in the text

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal characteristic of a retrieval question.

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**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify · **To what, where:** principal characteristic

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This is exam question 1 of lesson 17 «Retrieval: finding the answer in the text» 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/english/17-retrieval-finding-the-answer-in-the-text/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:17-retrieval-finding-the-answer-in-the-text:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal characteristic of a retrieval question.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	characteristic	characteristic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	retrieval	retrieval	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal characteristic of a retrieval question |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent characteristic=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It solicits the reader's personal opinion of the text

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:17-retrieval-finding-the-answer-in-the-text:e1:o1:1
# text = It solicits the reader's personal opinion of the text
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	solicits	solicit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	reader	reader	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	personal	personal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	opinion	opinion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	text	text	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **solicit** | present | It | the reader's personal opinion of the text |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **opine** |  | the reader | the text |  |  |  |  | nom opinion «cognition transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It requires knowledge obtained from beyond the text

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:17-retrieval-finding-the-answer-in-the-text:e1:o2:1
# text = It requires knowledge obtained from beyond the text
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	requires	require	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	obtained	obtain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	text	text	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **require** | present | It | knowledge |  |  |  |  | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme knowledge=Precondition |
| 2 | **obtain** | participle |  | knowledge *not said here* |  | the text |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent from text=Source |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It requires information stated explicitly within the text

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:17-retrieval-finding-the-answer-in-the-text:e1:o3:1
# text = It requires information stated explicitly within the text
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	requires	require	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	information	information	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	stated	state	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	explicitly	explicitly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	within	within	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	text	text	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **require** | present | It | information |  |  |  |  | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme information=Precondition |
| 2 | **state** *speech: other* | participle |  | information *not said here* |  |  |  | within the text; explicitly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It invites the reader to conjecture what may happen subsequently

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:17-retrieval-finding-the-answer-in-the-text:e1:o4:1
# text = It invites the reader to conjecture what may happen subsequently
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	invites	invite	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	reader	reader	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	conjecture	conjecture	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	nsubj	_	_
8	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
10	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invite** | present | It | the reader |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reader=Recipient |
| 2 | **conjecture** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **happen** | may |  |  |  |  |  | subsequently *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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**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.

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- next →: [Retrieval: finding the answer in the t…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/17-retrieval-finding-the-answer-in-the-text/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Retrieval: finding the answer in the text](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/17-retrieval-finding-the-answer-in-the-text/)