---
title: In respect of fingerspelling, ascertain the number of hands employed… — Sign language · tree and pragmatics
description: In respect of fingerspelling, ascertain the number of hands employed in British and in American Sign Language respectively. Exam question 4 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
---

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# Exam question 4 · Sign language

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In respect of fingerspelling, ascertain the number of hands employed in British and in American Sign Language respectively.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, employ, respect · **To what, where:** number, respect, hands, British American Sign Language, fingerspelling

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 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/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:32-sign-language:e4:1
# text = In respect of fingerspelling, ascertain the number of hands employed in British and in American Sign Language respectively.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	respect	respect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	fingerspelling	fingerspelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
6	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
11	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
13	British	British	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	American	American	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
17	Sign	Sign	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	Language	Language	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
19	respectively	respectively	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the number of hands |  | respect of fingerspelling |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=Topic |
| 2 | **employ** | participle |  | hands *not said here* |  | British American Sign Language |  | respectively *property* | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **respect** |  |  | fingerspelling |  |  |  |  | nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
One in both languages alike

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:32-sign-language:e4:o1:1
# text = One in both languages alike
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	languages	language	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
5	alike	alike	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two in British, one in American

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:32-sign-language:e4:o2:1
# text = Two in British, one in American
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	British	British	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	1	conj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	American	American	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One in British, two in American

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:32-sign-language:e4:o3:1
# text = One in British, two in American
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	British	British	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	1	conj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	American	American	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two in both languages alike

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:32-sign-language:e4:o4:1
# text = Two in both languages alike
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	languages	language	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
5	alike	alike	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
```

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

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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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- ← previous: [Sign language, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/32-sign-language/e3/)
- next →: [Ukrainian compared with English, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/33-ukrainian-compared-with-english/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Sign language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/32-sign-language/)