---
title: Ascertain the principal deficiency of the sentence "The big, huge, e… — Describing: senses, showing and precis… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal deficiency of the sentence "The big, huge, enormous, massive dog barked". Exam question 4 of lesson 41 «Describing: senses, showing and precise words» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; M
---

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# Exam question 4 · Describing: senses, showing and precise words

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal deficiency of the sentence "The big, huge, enormous, massive dog barked".

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, bark · **To what, where:** principal deficiency, big enormous massive dog

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 41 «Describing: senses, showing and precise words» 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/41-describing-senses-showing-and-precise-words/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:41-describing-senses-showing-and-precise-words:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the principal deficiency of the sentence "The big, huge, enormous, massive dog barked".
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	deficiency	deficiency	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
10	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
14	enormous	enormous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
16	massive	massive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
18	barked	bark	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	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 deficiency of the sentence |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent deficiency=Topic |
| 2 | **bark** *in a quote* | participle |  | the big enormous massive dog *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It contains no verb of any description

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:41-describing-senses-showing-and-precise-words:e4:o1:1
# text = It contains no verb of any description
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	verb	verb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
7	description	description	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It accumulates synonyms that add no further meaning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:41-describing-senses-showing-and-precise-words:e4:o2:1
# text = It accumulates synonyms that add no further meaning
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	accumulates	accumulate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	synonyms	synonym	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	add	add	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	8	det	_	_
7	further	further	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **accumulate** | present | It | synonyms |  |  |  |  | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent synonym=Theme |
| 2 | **add** *speech: assert* | present | synonyms | no further meaning |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a question lacking a question mark

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:41-describing-senses-showing-and-precise-words:e4:o3:1
# text = It is a question lacking a question mark
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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	lacking	lack	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	mark	mark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a question |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **lack** | gerund | a question *not said here* | a question mark |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is composed entirely in the passive voice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:41-describing-senses-showing-and-precise-words:e4:o4:1
# text = It is composed entirely in the passive voice
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	composed	compose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	entirely	entirely	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	passive	passive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **compose** | present · passive |  | It |  | the passive voice |  | entirely *property* | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result |

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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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