--- title: Ascertain the defect in the sentence "Tom met Sam and he laughed". — Paragraphs and cohesion: holding a tex… · tree and pragmatics description: Ascertain the defect in the sentence "Tom met Sam and he laughed". Exam question 4 of lesson 37 «Paragraphs and cohesion: holding a text together» 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. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/37-paragraphs-and-cohesion-holding-a-text-together/e4/) [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/) / [Paragraphs and cohesion: holding a tex…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/37-paragraphs-and-cohesion-holding-a-text-together/) / e4 # Exam question 4 · Paragraphs and cohesion: holding a text together Ascertain the defect in the sentence "Tom met Sam and he laughed". **Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, Tom · **What happens:** ascertain, meet, laugh · **To what, where:** defect, sentence, Sam · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is exam question 4 of lesson 37 «Paragraphs and cohesion: holding a text together» 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/37-paragraphs-and-cohesion-holding-a-text-together/#e4). ## The question {#question} ```conllu # sent_id = question:english:37-paragraphs-and-cohesion-holding-a-text-together:e4:1 # text = Ascertain the defect in the sentence "Tom met Sam and he laughed". 1 Ascertain ascertain VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 defect defect NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 obj _ _ 4 in in ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 sentence sentence NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 obl _ _ 7 " " PUNCT `` _ 9 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 8 Tom Tom PROPN NNP Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ _ 9 met meet VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 1 parataxis _ _ 10 Sam Sam PROPN NNP Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 12 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 13 laughed laugh VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 14 " " PUNCT '' _ 9 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 . . PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the defect | | the sentence | | | tree rules | | 2 | **meet** *in a quote* | past | Tom | Sam | | | | | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sam=Co-Agent | | 3 | **laugh** *in a quote* | past | Tom | | | | | | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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} The sentence contains a comma splice ```conllu # sent_id = question:english:37-paragraphs-and-cohesion-holding-a-text-together:e4:o1:1 # text = The sentence contains a comma splice 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 sentence sentence NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 contains contain VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 comma comma NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 compound _ _ 6 splice splice NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **contain** | present | the sentence | a comma splice | | | | | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot splice=Theme | ### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2} The referent of "he" is ambiguous ```conllu # sent_id = question:english:37-paragraphs-and-cohesion-holding-a-text-together:e4:o2:1 # text = The referent of "he" is ambiguous 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 referent referent NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 3 of of ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 " " PUNCT `` _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 6 " " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ 7 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 8 cop _ _ 8 ambiguous ambiguous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | present | the referent of he | | | | | ambiguous *property* | tree rules | ### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3} The verb "met" is in the future tense ```conllu # sent_id = question:english:37-paragraphs-and-cohesion-holding-a-text-together:e4:o3:1 # text = The verb "met" is in the future tense 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 verb verb NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nsubj _ _ 3 " " PUNCT `` _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 4 met meet VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 2 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 5 " " PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ 6 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 10 cop _ _ 7 in in ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 9 future future ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 tense tense NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **meet** *in a quote* | participle | | the verb *not said here* | | | | | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **is** | present | the verb | | | the future tense | | | tree rules | ### Option 4 {#o4} The sentence lacks a verb ```conllu # sent_id = question:english:37-paragraphs-and-cohesion-holding-a-text-together:e4:o4:1 # text = The sentence lacks a verb 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 sentence sentence NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 lacks lack VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 verb verb NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **lack** | present | the sentence | a verb | | | | | tree rules | **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. - ← previous: [Paragraphs and cohesion: holding a tex…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/37-paragraphs-and-cohesion-holding-a-text-together/e3/) - next →: [Standard English and dialect: "we was"…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/t1/) - ↑ back to [Paragraphs and cohesion: holding a text together](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/37-paragraphs-and-cohesion-holding-a-text-together/)