---
title: «her writing's ugly so her story's rubbish». What is the fair answer? — Handwriting: holding the pencil and jo… · tree and pragmatics
description: «her writing's ugly so her story's rubbish». What is the fair answer? Test 9 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 each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 9 · Handwriting: holding the pencil and joining up

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«her writing's ugly so her story's rubbish». What is the fair answer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** her, fair answer · **What happens:** write, be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 of lesson 5 «Handwriting: holding the pencil and joining up» 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/5-handwriting-holding-the-pencil-and-joining-up/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «her writing's ugly so her story's rubbish».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:5-handwriting-holding-the-pencil-and-joining-up:t9:1
# text = «her writing's ugly so her story's rubbish».
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	ugly	ugly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	rubbish	rubbish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** *in a quote* |  | her *= she* |  |  |  |  |  | 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is the fair answer?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:5-handwriting-holding-the-pencil-and-joining-up:t9:2
# text = What is the fair answer?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the fair answer |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Messy writing means a bad story every time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:5-handwriting-holding-the-pencil-and-joining-up:t9:o1:1
# text = Messy writing means a bad story every time
1	Messy	messy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Messy writing | a bad story |  |  | time |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent story=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Stories are only marked on neatness

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:5-handwriting-holding-the-pencil-and-joining-up:t9:o2:1
# text = Stories are only marked on neatness
1	Stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	marked	mark	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	neatness	neatness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mark** | present · passive |  | Stories |  | neatness |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme PP.destination»: subject=Theme on neatness=Destination |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Neat writing makes any story better, whatever the words say

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:5-handwriting-holding-the-pencil-and-joining-up:t9:o3:1
# text = Neat writing makes any story better, whatever the words say
1	Neat	neat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	det	_	_
5	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	obj	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
11	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Neat writing | any story |  |  |  | good *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset story=Product |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the words | whatever |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent whatever=Topic |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A great story can be in messy writing; they're different skills

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:5-handwriting-holding-the-pencil-and-joining-up:t9:o4:1
# text = A great story can be in messy writing; they're different skills
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	messy	messy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	're	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	skills	skill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | can | a great story |  |  | messy writing and different skills |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | present | writing | different skills |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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- ↑ back to [Handwriting: holding the pencil and joining up](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/5-handwriting-holding-the-pencil-and-joining-up/)