---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises infe… — Inference: reading between the lines · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises inference in reading? Exam question 1 of lesson 18 «Inference: reading between the lines» 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 wron
---

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# Exam question 1 · Inference: reading between the lines

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises inference in reading?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** inference, reading

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This is exam question 1 of lesson 18 «Inference: reading between the lines» 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/18-inference-reading-between-the-lines/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:18-inference-reading-between-the-lines:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises inference in reading?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	inference	inference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	reading	reading	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | inference |  | reading |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
The verbatim reproduction of words appearing in the text

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:18-inference-reading-between-the-lines:e1:o1:1
# text = The verbatim reproduction of words appearing in the text
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	verbatim	verbatim	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	reproduction	reproduction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
6	appearing	appear	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	text	text	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **appear** | gerund | words *not said here* |  |  | the text |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in text=Location |
| 2 | **reproduce** |  | words |  |  |  |  |  | nom reproduction «process intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Recollection of facts from beyond the text in question

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:18-inference-reading-between-the-lines:e1:o2:1
# text = Recollection of facts from beyond the text in question
1	Recollection	recollection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	facts	fact	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	text	text	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **recollect** |  |  | facts from the text in question |  |  |  |  | nom recollection «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Unsupported conjecture

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:18-inference-reading-between-the-lines:e1:o3:1
# text = Unsupported conjecture
1	Unsupported	unsupported	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	conjecture	conjecture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The deduction of meaning not explicitly stated, on the basis of evidence within the text

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:18-inference-reading-between-the-lines:e1:o4:1
# text = The deduction of meaning not explicitly stated, on the basis of evidence within the text
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	deduction	deduction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
6	explicitly	explicitly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	stated	state	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	basis	basis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	evidence	evidence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
14	within	within	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	text	text	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **state** *speech: other* | participle · passive |  | the deduction of meaning |  | the basis of evidence |  | within the text; explicitly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
| 2 | **deduct** |  | meaning |  |  |  |  |  | nom deduction «possession intransitive»: of=agent |

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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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