---
title: Which question should come first when planning a piece of writing? — Planning before writing · tree and pragmatics
description: Which question should come first when planning a piece of writing? Test 10 of lesson 39 «Planning before writing» 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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# Test 10 · Planning before writing

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which question should come first when planning a piece of writing?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** question · **What happens:** come, plan · **To what, where:** piece

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 of lesson 39 «Planning before writing» of the English course of Mova's primary school. 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/39-planning-before-writing/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:39-planning-before-writing:t10:1
# text = Which question should come first when planning a piece of writing?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	advmod	_	_
6	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
7	planning	plan	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | should | which question |  |  |  |  | first *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **plan** | gerund | which question *not said here* | a piece of writing |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent piece=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
What is my favourite word?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:39-planning-before-writing:t10:o1:1
# text = What is my favourite word?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	favourite	favourite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | my favourite word |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **word** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Who is it for, and why?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:39-planning-before-writing:t10:o2:1
# text = Who is it for, and why?
1	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nsubj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	1	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How many pages can I fill?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:39-planning-before-writing:t10:o3:1
# text = How many pages can I fill?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	pages	page	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	fill	fill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fill** | can | many pages |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What colour pen do I use?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:39-planning-before-writing:t10:o4:1
# text = What colour pen do I use?
1	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	pen	pen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | present · do-support | colour pen |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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: [Planning before writing, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/39-planning-before-writing/t9/)
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