---
title: Ascertain which of the following constitutes "showing" rather than "… — Putting it together: reading and writi… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain which of the following constitutes "showing" rather than "telling". Exam question 4 of lesson 54 «Putting it together: reading and writing like a writer» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choic
---

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# Exam question 4 · Putting it together: reading and writing like a writer

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain which of the following constitutes "showing" rather than "telling".

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, following constitutes · **What happens:** ascertain, follow, show, tell · **To what, where:** following constitutes · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 54 «Putting it together: reading and writing like a writer» 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/54-reading-and-writing-like-a-writer/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:54-reading-and-writing-like-a-writer:e4:1
# text = Ascertain which of the following constitutes "showing" rather than "telling".
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	amod	_	_
6	constitutes	constitute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	showing	show	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
10	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	13	cc	_	_
11	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	fixed	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	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* | the following constitutes |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent constitute=Topic |
| 2 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **show** *in a quote* | gerund | the following constitutes *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | gerund | the following constitutes *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was afraid.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:54-reading-and-writing-like-a-writer:e4:o1:1
# text = She was afraid.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	afraid	afraid	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** | past | She |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She felt great fear.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:54-reading-and-writing-like-a-writer:e4:o2:1
# text = She felt great fear.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feel** | past | She | great fear |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fear=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her hands trembled.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:54-reading-and-writing-like-a-writer:e4:o3:1
# text = Her hands trembled.
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	trembled	tremble	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tremble** | past | Her hands |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was scared stiff.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:54-reading-and-writing-like-a-writer:e4:o4:1
# text = She was scared stiff.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	scared	scared	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	stiff	stiff	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	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 | She |  |  |  |  | stiff *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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