---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a pr… — Prepositions and conjunctions: little… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a preposition? Exam question 1 of lesson 6 «Prepositions and conjunctions: little words that hold sentences together» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each o
---

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# Exam question 1 · Prepositions and conjunctions: little words that hold sent…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a preposition?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** preposition

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 6 «Prepositions and conjunctions: little words that hold sentences together» 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/6-prepositions-and-conjunctions/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:6-prepositions-and-conjunctions:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a preposition?
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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	preposition	preposition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	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 |  | a preposition |  |  |  | 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A word qualifying a noun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:6-prepositions-and-conjunctions:e1:o1:1
# text = A word qualifying a noun
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	qualifying	qualify	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	noun	noun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **qualify** | gerund | a word *not said here* | a noun |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A word denoting an action or state, preceding a noun or pronoun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:6-prepositions-and-conjunctions:e1:o2:1
# text = A word denoting an action or state, preceding a noun or pronoun
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	denoting	denote	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	preceding	precede	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	conj	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	noun	noun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	pronoun	pronoun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **denote** | gerund | a word *not said here* | a action or state |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot action=Topic |
| 2 | **precede** | gerund | a word *not said here* | a noun or pronoun |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme noun=Co-Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A word indicating relations of place, time or connection, preceding a noun or pronoun

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:6-prepositions-and-conjunctions:e1:o3:1
# text = A word indicating relations of place, time or connection, preceding a noun or pronoun
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	indicating	indicate	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	relations	relation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	connection	connection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	preceding	precede	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	conj	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	noun	noun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	pronoun	pronoun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **indicate** | gerund | a word *not said here* | relations of place and time or connection |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot relation=Topic |
| 2 | **precede** | gerund | a word *not said here* | a noun or pronoun |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme noun=Co-Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A word replacing a noun to avoid repetition

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:6-prepositions-and-conjunctions:e1:o4:1
# text = A word replacing a noun to avoid repetition
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	replacing	replace	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	noun	noun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	avoid	avoid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
8	repetition	repetition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **replace** | gerund | a word *not said here* | a noun |  |  |  |  | vn substitute-13.6.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme noun=Co-Theme |
| 2 | **avoid** | to-infinitive | a word *not said here* | repetition |  |  |  |  | vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent repetition=Location |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Prepositions and conjunctions: little…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/6-prepositions-and-conjunctions/t11/)
- next →: [Prepositions and conjunctions: little…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/6-prepositions-and-conjunctions/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Prepositions and conjunctions: little words that hold sentences together](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/6-prepositions-and-conjunctions/)