---
title: Which of the following most accurately characterises the effect of a… — Building tension and suspense · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following most accurately characterises the effect of a sequence of short sentences in a tense passage? Exam question 2 of lesson 42 «Building tension and suspense» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option
---

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# Exam question 2 · Building tension and suspense

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following most accurately characterises the effect of a sequence of short sentences in a tense passage?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris, effect · **To what, where:** effect, sequence

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 42 «Building tension and suspense» 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/42-building-tension-and-suspense/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:42-building-tension-and-suspense:e2:1
# text = Which of the following most accurately characterises the effect of a sequence of short sentences in a tense passage?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	6	advmod	_	_
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	effect	effect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	sequence	sequence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	sentences	sentence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	tense	tense	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the effect of a sequence of short sentences in a tense passage |  |  |  | accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **effect** |  |  | a sequence of short sentences in a tense passage |  |  |  |  | nom effect «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 replaces all description with dialogue

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:42-building-tension-and-suspense:e2:o1:1
# text = It replaces all description with dialogue
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	replaces	replace	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	description	description	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	dialogue	dialogue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **replace** | present | It | all description |  |  |  | with dialogue | vn substitute-13.6.2-1 «NP V NP PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme description=Location with dialogue=Co-Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It accelerates the action and diminishes anticipation

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:42-building-tension-and-suspense:e2:o2:1
# text = It accelerates the action and diminishes anticipation
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	accelerates	accelerate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	diminishes	diminish	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
7	anticipation	anticipation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **accelerate** | present | It | the action |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent action=Patient |
| 2 | **diminish** | present |  | anticipation |  |  |  |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer anticipation=Patient |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It decelerates the action and heightens anticipation

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:42-building-tension-and-suspense:e2:o3:1
# text = It decelerates the action and heightens anticipation
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	decelerates	decelerate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	heightens	heighten	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
7	anticipation	anticipation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decelerate** | present | It | the action |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent action=Patient |
| 2 | **heighten** | present |  | anticipation |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent anticipation=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It signals the conclusion of the narrative

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:42-building-tension-and-suspense:e2:o4:1
# text = It signals the conclusion of the narrative
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	signals	signal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	conclusion	conclusion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	narrative	narrative	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **conclude** |  |  | the narrative |  |  |  |  | nom conclusion «cognition 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: [Building tension and suspense, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/e1/)
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