---
title: Ascertain the principal objection to an ending in which events are r… — Openings that hook the reader · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal objection to an ending in which events are revealed to have been a dream. Exam question 4 of lesson 40 «Openings that hook the reader» 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
---

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# Exam question 4 · Openings that hook the reader

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal objection to an ending in which events are revealed to have been a dream.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, reveal, be · **To what, where:** principal objection, events, ending, dream

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 40 «Openings that hook the reader» 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/40-openings-that-hook-the-reader/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:40-openings-that-hook-the-reader:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the principal objection to an ending in which events are revealed to have been a dream.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	objection	objection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	ending	ending	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	obl	_	_
10	events	event	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
11	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	revealed	reveal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl:relcl	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
14	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	aux	_	_
15	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	cop	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	dream	dream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal objection |  |  |  | to a ending | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent objection=Topic |
| 2 | **reveal** | present · passive |  | events |  | a ending |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 3 | **is a** | to-infinitive · perfect |  | a dream |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
It is excessively long and tedious in all instances

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:40-openings-that-hook-the-reader:e4:o1:1
# text = It is excessively long and tedious in all instances
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	excessively	excessively	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	tedious	tedious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	_
9	instances	instance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  | all instances |  | excessively, long *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It renders the preceding events without consequence

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:40-openings-that-hook-the-reader:e4:o2:1
# text = It renders the preceding events without consequence
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	5	det	_	_
4	preceding	precede	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	events	event	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	without	without	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	consequence	consequence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **render** | present | It | the preceding events |  |  |  | without consequence | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent event=Theme |
| 2 | **precede** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is prohibited in all examinations

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:40-openings-that-hook-the-reader:e4:o3:1
# text = It is prohibited in all examinations
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	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	examinations	examination	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prohibit** | present · passive |  | It |  | all examinations |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It contains no punctuation of any kind whatsoever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:40-openings-that-hook-the-reader:e4:o4:1
# text = It contains no punctuation of any kind whatsoever
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	contains	contain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	punctuation	punctuation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
7	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contain** | present | It | no punctuation of any kind |  |  |  | whatsoever *property* | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot punctuation=Theme |
| 2 | **punctuate** |  |  | any kind |  |  |  |  | nom punctuation «event 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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Openings that hook the reader, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/40-openings-that-hook-the-reader/e3/)
- next →: [Describing: senses, showing and precis…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/41-describing-senses-showing-and-precise-words/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Openings that hook the reader](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/40-openings-that-hook-the-reader/)