---
title: Select the response consistent with established convention concernin… — Direct speech: inverted commas and new… · tree and pragmatics
description: Select the response consistent with established convention concerning punctuation at the end of spoken words. Exam question 4 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 
---

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# Exam question 4 · Direct speech: inverted commas and new speakers

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Select the response consistent with established convention concerning punctuation at the end of spoken words.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, established convention · **What happens:** select, establish, concern, speak · **To what, where:** response, punctuation, end · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 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/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:e4:1
# text = Select the response consistent with established convention concerning punctuation at the end of spoken words.
1	Select	select	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	response	response	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	established	establish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
7	convention	convention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	concerning	concern	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
9	punctuation	punctuation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	amod	_	_
15	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **select** | imperative | you *not said here* | the response |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme |
| 2 | **establish** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **concern** | gerund | established convention *not said here* | punctuation |  |  | at the end of spoken words |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus punctuation=Experiencer |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is placed within the closing inverted commas

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:e4:o1:1
# text = It is placed within the closing inverted commas
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	within	within	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	closing	closing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	inverted	invert	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	amod	_	_
8	commas	comma	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **place** | present · passive |  | It |  |  |  | within the closing  inverted commas | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **invert** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is placed before the opening inverted commas

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:e4:o2:1
# text = It is placed before the opening inverted commas
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	before	before	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	opening	opening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	inverted	invert	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	amod	_	_
8	commas	comma	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **place** | present · passive |  | It |  | the opening and inverted commas |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme before opening=Destination |
| 2 | **invert** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is omitted entirely in all cases

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:e4:o3:1
# text = It is omitted entirely in all cases
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	omitted	omit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	entirely	entirely	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	cases	case	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **omit** | present · passive |  | It |  | all cases |  | entirely *property* | vn exclude-107.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is placed after the name of the speaker only

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers:e4:o4:1
# text = It is placed after the name of the speaker only
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	after	after	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	speaker	speaker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **place** | present · passive |  | It |  |  | after the name of the speaker |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **name** |  |  | the speaker |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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: [Direct speech: inverted commas and new…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers/e3/)
- next →: [Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons a…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens/t1/)
- ↑ 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/)