---
title: Identify the persuasive device employed in the sentence «Surely you… — Persuasive letters, newspaper articles… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the persuasive device employed in the sentence «Surely you agree?» Exam question 1 of lesson 24 «Persuasive letters, newspaper articles and diaries» 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 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries/e1/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/) / [Persuasive letters, newspaper articles…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries/) / e1

# Exam question 1 · Persuasive letters, newspaper articles and diaries

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the persuasive device employed in the sentence «Surely you agree?»

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, employ, agree · **To what, where:** persuasive device, sentence

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 24 «Persuasive letters, newspaper articles and diaries» 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/24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries:e1:1
# text = Identify the persuasive device employed in the sentence «Surely you agree?»
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	persuasive	persuasive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	device	device	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	Surely	surely	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	agree	agree	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	»	»	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 persuasive device |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent device=Theme |
| 2 | **employ** | participle |  | the persuasive device *not said here* |  | the sentence |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **agree** *speech: agree* *in a quote* | present | you | the sentence *not said here* |  |  |  | surely *property* | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent sentence=Topic |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A caption

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries:e1:o1:1
# text = A caption
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	caption	caption	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A glossary entry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries:e1:o2:1
# text = A glossary entry
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	glossary	glossary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	entry	entry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A rhetorical question

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries:e1:o3:1
# text = A rhetorical question
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	rhetorical	rhetorical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A numbered instruction of the kind found in a recipe

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries:e1:o4:1
# text = A numbered instruction of the kind found in a recipe
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	numbered	number	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	instruction	instruction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	recipe	recipe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **number** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn classify-29.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **find** | participle |  | a numbered instruction of the kind *not said here* |  | a recipe |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **instruct** |  |  | the kind |  |  |  |  | nom instruction «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Persuasive letters, newspaper articles…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries/t10/)
- next →: [Persuasive letters, newspaper articles…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Persuasive letters, newspaper articles and diaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/24-persuasive-letters-newspaper-articles-and-diaries/)