---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises Brit… — Sign language · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises British Sign Language? Exam question 1 of lesson 32 «Sign language» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/32-sign-language/e1/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/) / [Sign language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/32-sign-language/) / e1

# Exam question 1 · Sign language

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises British Sign Language?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** British Sign Language

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 32 «Sign language» of the language 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/language/32-sign-language/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:32-sign-language:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises British Sign Language?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	British	British	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
10	Sign	Sign	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	Language	Language	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | British Sign Language |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
A system of mime devoid of grammatical rules

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:32-sign-language:e1:o1:1
# text = A system of mime devoid of grammatical rules
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	system	system	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	mime	mime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	devoid	devoid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	grammatical	grammatical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	rules	rule	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A complete language possessing its own grammar, distinct from English

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:32-sign-language:e1:o2:1
# text = A complete language possessing its own grammar, distinct from English
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	complete	complete	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	possessing	possess	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
5	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	grammar	grammar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	distinct	distinct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | gerund | a complete language *not said here* | language's own grammar |  | English |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot grammar=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A manual representation of English words, presented strictly in English order

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:32-sign-language:e1:o3:1
# text = A manual representation of English words, presented strictly in English order
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	manual	manual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	representation	representation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	presented	present	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	strictly	strictly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **present** | participle · passive |  | a manual representation of English words |  | English order |  | strictly *property* | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **represent** |  |  | English words |  |  |  |  | nom representation «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A dialect of American Sign Language

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:32-sign-language:e1:o4:1
# text = A dialect of American Sign Language
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	dialect	dialect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	American	American	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	Sign	Sign	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	Language	Language	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Sign language, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/32-sign-language/t10/)
- next →: [Sign language, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/32-sign-language/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Sign language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/32-sign-language/)