---
title: Which of the following most accurately characterises the principal r… — Active and passive voice, modal verbs · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following most accurately characterises the principal reason for the use of the passive in scientific reports? Exam question 3 of lesson 32 «Active and passive voice, modal verbs» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and
---

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# Exam question 3 · Active and passive voice, modal verbs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following most accurately characterises the principal reason for the use of the passive in scientific reports?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** follow, characteris, use · **To what, where:** principal reason, passive

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 32 «Active and passive voice, modal verbs» 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/32-active-and-passive-voice-modal-verbs/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:32-active-and-passive-voice-modal-verbs:e3:1
# text = Which of the following most accurately characterises the principal reason for the use of the passive in scientific reports?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	6	advmod	_	_
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	passive	passive	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	scientific	scientific	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	reports	report	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	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 |  | the principal reason |  |  |  | for the use of the passive in scientific reports; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **use** |  |  | the passive in scientific reports |  |  |  |  | nom use «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The action is of greater importance than the agent

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:32-active-and-passive-voice-modal-verbs:e3:o1:1
# text = The action is of greater importance than the agent
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	greater	great	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
6	importance	importance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	agent	agent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the action |  |  |  |  | of greater importance; than the agent | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It renders the report considerably shorter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:32-active-and-passive-voice-modal-verbs:e3:o2:1
# text = It renders the report considerably shorter
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	renders	render	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	report	report	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	considerably	considerably	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	shorter	short	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **render** | present | It | the report |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent report=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The agent is invariably unknown to the author

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:32-active-and-passive-voice-modal-verbs:e3:o3:1
# text = The agent is invariably unknown to the author
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	agent	agent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	invariably	invariably	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	unknown	unknown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	author	author	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the agent |  |  |  |  | to the author; invariably, unknown *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is the sole grammatical form permitted

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:32-active-and-passive-voice-modal-verbs:e3:o4:1
# text = It is the sole grammatical form permitted
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	sole	sole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	grammatical	grammatical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	permitted	permit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | the sole grammatical form |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **permit** | participle |  | the sole grammatical form *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Causer |

<!-- 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 -->

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