---
title: Ascertain which of the following may serve as a fronted adverbial. — Fronted adverbials · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain which of the following may serve as a fronted adverbial. Exam question 4 of lesson 29 «Fronted adverbials» 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 4 · Fronted adverbials

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain which of the following may serve as a fronted adverbial.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, follow, serve, front

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 29 «Fronted adverbials» 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/29-fronted-adverbials/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:e4:1
# text = Ascertain which of the following may serve as a fronted adverbial.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	obj	_	_
3	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	nsubj	_	_
6	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	serve	serve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	ccomp	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	fronted	front	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	amod	_	_
11	adverbial	adverbial	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **serve** | may |  |  |  |  |  | as a fronted adverbial | vn spend\_time-104 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent which=Duration as adverbial=Attribute |
| 4 | **front** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
A proper noun only

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:e4:o1:1
# text = A proper noun only
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	proper	proper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	noun	noun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A complete main clause, provided that it is followed by a full stop

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:e4:o2:1
# text = A complete main clause, provided that it is followed by a full stop
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	complete	complete	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	main	main	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	clause	clause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	provided	provide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	followed	follow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	advcl	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	stop	stop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **provide** | past | a complete main clause |  |  |  |  |  | vn ensure-99 «NP V that S»: agent=Precondition |
| 2 | **follow** | present · passive | a full stop | clause |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A single word only

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:e4:o3:1
# text = A single word only
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A single word, a phrase or a subordinate clause

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:e4:o4:1
# text = A single word, a phrase or a subordinate clause
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	phrase	phrase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	subordinate	subordinate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	clause	clause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

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

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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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- ← previous: [Fronted adverbials, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/29-fronted-adverbials/e3/)
- next →: [Relative clauses, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/30-relative-clauses/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Fronted adverbials](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/29-fronted-adverbials/)