---
title: Ascertain the meaning of the regional term "mardy" as employed in th… — Building tension and suspense · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the meaning of the regional term "mardy" as employed in the North and Midlands of England. Exam question 4 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; Mova's choice 
---

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# Exam question 4 · Building tension and suspense

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the meaning of the regional term "mardy" as employed in the North and Midlands of England.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, employ, mean · **To what, where:** meaning, North, regional term

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 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/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:42-building-tension-and-suspense:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the meaning of the regional term "mardy" as employed in the North and Midlands of England.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	regional	regional	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	term	term	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	mardy	mardy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
11	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	advcl	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	North	North	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	Midlands	Midland	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	England	England	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	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 meaning of the regional term |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic |
| 2 | **employ** | participle | you *not said here* |  |  | the North  Midlands of England |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **mean** |  |  | the regional term |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sulky or ill-tempered

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:42-building-tension-and-suspense:e4:o1:1
# text = Sulky or ill-tempered
1	Sulky	sulky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
2	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	tempered	temper	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Courageous or bold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:42-building-tension-and-suspense:e4:o2:1
# text = Courageous or bold
1	Courageous	Courageous	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	bold	bold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Frightening or alarming

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:42-building-tension-and-suspense:e4:o3:1
# text = Frightening or alarming
1	Frightening	frightening	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	alarming	alarming	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Exhausted or weary

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:42-building-tension-and-suspense:e4:o4:1
# text = Exhausted or weary
1	Exhausted	exhausted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	weary	weary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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: [Building tension and suspense, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/e3/)
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