---
title: Why might a writer use a one-word sentence like "Silence."? — Building tension and suspense · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might a writer use a one-word sentence like "Silence."? Test 10 · ★★ 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 was wrong.
---

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# Test 10 · ★★ · Building tension and suspense

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might a writer use a one-word sentence like "Silence."?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** writer · **What happens:** use · **To what, where:** word sentence

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This is test 10 · ★★ of lesson 42 «Building tension and suspense» 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/42-building-tension-and-suspense/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:42-building-tension-and-suspense:t10:1
# text = Why might a writer use a one-word sentence like "Silence."?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	writer	writer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
7	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
11	like	like	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	Silence	silence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | might | a writer | a word sentence |  |  |  | like Silence | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sentence=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To show that the story has ended

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:42-building-tension-and-suspense:t10:o1:1
# text = To show that the story has ended
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	show	show	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	ended	end	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **end** | present · perfect · passive |  | the story |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because the writer ran out of words

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:42-building-tension-and-suspense:t10:o2:1
# text = Because the writer ran out of words
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	writer	writer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	out	out	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | past | the writer |  |  | words |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme out word=Trajectory |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To slow the moment and make it stand out

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:42-building-tension-and-suspense:t10:o3:1
# text = To slow the moment and make it stand out
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	slow	slow	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	out	out	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **slow** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  | moment |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **make** | infinitive |  | it |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **stand out** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To make the reader skip ahead

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:42-building-tension-and-suspense:t10:o4:1
# text = To make the reader skip ahead
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	reader	reader	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	skip	skip	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
6	ahead	ahead	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | to-infinitive |  | the reader |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **skip** | infinitive | the reader *not said here* |  |  |  |  | ahead *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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