---
title: Ascertain the relation which subsists between handwriting and compos… — Handwriting: holding the pencil and jo… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the relation which subsists between handwriting and composition in the assessment of pupils' writing. Exam question 4 of lesson 5 «Handwriting: holding the pencil and joining up» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of 
---

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# Exam question 4 · Handwriting: holding the pencil and joining up

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the relation which subsists between handwriting and composition in the assessment of pupils' writing.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, relation, pupils · **What happens:** ascertain, subsist, assess, write · **To what, where:** relation, writing

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 5 «Handwriting: holding the pencil and joining up» 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/5-handwriting-holding-the-pencil-and-joining-up/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:5-handwriting-holding-the-pencil-and-joining-up:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the relation which subsists between handwriting and composition in the assessment of pupils' writing.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	relation	relation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	subsists	subsist	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	between	between	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	handwriting	handwriting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	composition	composition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	assessment	assessment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	pupils	pupil	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	'	's	PART	POS	_	14	case	_	_
16	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	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 relation |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent relation=Topic |
| 2 | **subsist** | present | the relation |  |  |  |  | between handwriting and composition in the assessment of pupils's writing | vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **assess** |  |  | pupils's writing |  |  |  |  | nom assessment «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 4 | **write** |  | pupils |  |  |  |  |  | nom writing «act transitive»: poss=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They constitute one skill and are assessed together

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:5-handwriting-holding-the-pencil-and-joining-up:e4:o1:1
# text = They constitute one skill and are assessed together
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	constitute	constitute	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	skill	skill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	assessed	assess	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
8	together	together	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **constitute** | present | They | one skill |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme skill=Pivot |
| 2 | **assess** | present · passive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V whether/if S» |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are distinct skills which are assessed separately

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:5-handwriting-holding-the-pencil-and-joining-up:e4:o2:1
# text = They are distinct skills which are assessed separately
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	distinct	distinct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	skills	skill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	assessed	assess	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	_
8	separately	separately	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | They | distinct skills |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **assess** | present · passive |  | distinct skills |  |  |  | separately *property* | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Composition is assessed solely by reference to handwriting

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:5-handwriting-holding-the-pencil-and-joining-up:e4:o3:1
# text = Composition is assessed solely by reference to handwriting
1	Composition	composition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	assessed	assess	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	solely	solely	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	reference	reference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	handwriting	handwriting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **assess** | present · passive | reference | Composition |  |  |  | to handwriting; solely *property* | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Handwriting is not assessed in any circumstances

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:5-handwriting-holding-the-pencil-and-joining-up:e4:o4:1
# text = Handwriting is not assessed in any circumstances
1	Handwriting	handwriting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	assessed	assess	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
7	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **assess** | present · passive |  | Handwriting |  | any circumstances |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**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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