---
title: Ascertain which of the following constitutes the Standard English fo… — SATs: grammar, punctuation and spellin… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain which of the following constitutes the Standard English form required in the examination. Exam question 3 of lesson 52 «SATs: grammar, punctuation and spelling paper» 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 3 · SATs: grammar, punctuation and spelling paper

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain which of the following constitutes the Standard English form required in the examination.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, follow, constitute, require · **To what, where:** Standard English, examination

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 52 «SATs: grammar, punctuation and spelling paper» 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/52-sats-grammar-punctuation-and-spelling-paper/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:52-sats-grammar-punctuation-and-spelling-paper:e3:1
# text = Ascertain which of the following constitutes the Standard English form required in the examination.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	nsubj	_	_
6	constitutes	constitute	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	Standard	Standard	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	form	form	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	required	require	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	ccomp	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	examination	examination	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **constitute** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **require** | present · passive |  | the Standard English |  | the examination |  |  | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Precondition |

<!-- .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 -->
We be late.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:52-sats-grammar-punctuation-and-spelling-paper:e3:o1:1
# text = We be late.
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	cop	_	_
3	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | infinitive | We |  |  |  |  | late *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
We is late.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:52-sats-grammar-punctuation-and-spelling-paper:e3:o2:1
# text = We is late.
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | We |  |  |  |  | late *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
We were late.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:52-sats-grammar-punctuation-and-spelling-paper:e3:o3:1
# text = We were late.
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	late	late	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | We |  |  |  |  | late *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
We was late again.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:52-sats-grammar-punctuation-and-spelling-paper:e3:o4:1
# text = We was late again.
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	late	late	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
4	again	again	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | We |  |  |  |  | again, late *property* | tree rules |

<!-- 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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