---
title: Identify the correctly punctuated instance of direct speech. — Direct speech: inverted commas and new… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the correctly punctuated instance of direct speech. Exam question 1 of lesson 35 «Direct speech: inverted commas and new speakers» 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 · Direct speech: inverted commas and new speakers

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the correctly punctuated instance of direct speech.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, punctuate, instance · **To what, where:** punctuated instance, direct speech

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This is exam question 1 of lesson 35 «Direct speech: inverted commas and new speakers» 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/35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:e1:1
# text = Identify the correctly punctuated instance of direct speech.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	correctly	correctly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	punctuated	punctuate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
5	instance	instance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	direct	direct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	speech	speech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	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 punctuated instance of direct speech |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent instance=Theme |
| 2 | **punctuate** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | correctly *property* | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **instance** |  |  | direct speech |  |  |  |  | nom instance «event 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Sit down." said the teacher.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:e1:o1:1
# text = "Sit down." said the teacher.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
3	down	down	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit down** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the teacher |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Sit down" said the teacher.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:e1:o2:1
# text = "Sit down" said the teacher.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
3	down	down	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit down** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the teacher |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sit down, "said the teacher."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:e1:o3:1
# text = Sit down, "said the teacher."
1	Sit	sit	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	down	down	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit down** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | the teacher |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Sit down," said the teacher.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:e1:o4:1
# text = "Sit down," said the teacher.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
3	down	down	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit down** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the teacher |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Direct speech: inverted commas and new…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers/t11/)
- next →: [Direct speech: inverted commas and new…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Direct speech: inverted commas and new speakers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers/)