---
title: Building tension and suspense — how Mova does on the tests · English
description: Lesson 42 of the english course of Mova's primary school: 3 of 11 tests right, exam 2 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose.
---

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# Building tension and suspense

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**Tests:** 3 of 11 right · **Exam:** 2 of 4 right · **Kind:** ★★ · **Understood:** 5 of 15 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72`

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Lesson 42 of the english course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/).

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Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson's questions in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/).

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### Test 1 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t1}

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Your mate goes "scary stories need loads of blood and gore or they're mid." ("Mid" means not very good.) What is the truth?

- **1.** Stories are only scary if someone dies — no support
- **2.** Waiting and hints scare readers more than gore — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** The more gore, the scarier the story — no support
- **4.** Nothing can make a story scary — **← Mova's choice** · score 0

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 0, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 40, line 14: «An ending where everything was a dream is a well-known cliché that makes the story feel as if it did not matter.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «make» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/t1/)

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### Test 2 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t2}

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★★★ Which version builds the most suspense about what is in the box?

- **1.** The box had a kitten, a ball and a blanket in it. — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Inside the box was a small, friendly, sleepy kitten. — no support
- **3.** There was a kitten in the box, and it was really sweet. — no support
- **4.** The lid moved. Just a little. From the inside. — **✓ the right answer** · no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/t2/)

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### Test 3 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t3}

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In a cartoon, the villain explains his whole secret plan to the hero before doing anything. What does it do to the suspense?

- **1.** It drains it, as nothing is left to guess — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 10
- **2.** It makes the whole story much more tense and scary — no support
- **3.** It makes the villain far more mysterious than before — no support
- **4.** It turns the cartoon into a cliffhanger — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 1 with score 10, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 39, line 14: «Many schools now ask to see the plan, because it shows the writer's thinking.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+5); the same action «think» (+4); a different doer (counts against) (+1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/t3/)

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### Test 4 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t4}

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What would happen if a TV series answered every mystery at the end of each episode?

- **1.** Viewers would watch even more episodes — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Every episode would end on a cliffhanger — no support
- **3.** Viewers would have less reason to come back — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** The series would become a quiz show — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/t4/)

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### Test 5 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t5}

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A lad from Newcastle says "That story's canny scary, man." ("Canny" means quite or very in the North East.) What probably made it scary?

- **1.** The writer used no full stops — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** The writer kept us waiting and guessing — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** The writer only described the sky and the clouds — no support
- **4.** The writer told us the whole ending first — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/t5/)

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### Test 6 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t6}

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★★★ "I opened the door. There was nothing there. Then I heard my name — from behind me." Which two techniques are used?

- **1.** A fairy-tale opening and a long list of colours — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** A long list and a rhetorical question — no support
- **3.** A happy ending and lots of adjectives — no support
- **4.** Short sentences and a held-back surprise — **✓ the right answer** · no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/t6/)

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### Test 7 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t7}

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Your sister, dead sarcastic: "Wow, a ghost appeared and then left. Terrifying." What is she hinting?

- **1.** She is truly terrified now — no support
- **2.** The story needs more ghosts — no support
- **3.** Ghosts should never appear in stories — **← Mova's choice** · score 3
- **4.** The ghost scene went by far too fast — **✓ the right answer** · no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 42, line 3: «Showing everything at once kills it: "There was a monster. It ate the teacher" is over before we can be scared, and "The ghost appeared, chased them, and they…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «appear» (+6); the same doer «ghost» (+3). Against it: one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-6). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/t7/)

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### Test 8 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t8}

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A Gen Z cousin says "That ending had me screaming, I'm literally deceased." ("Deceased" here means it was so good she's joking that she died.) Which ending did she probably read?

- **1.** Then they went home and slept. — no support
- **2.** The end, thank you for reading. — no support
- **3.** The phone lit up: "I'm in your house." — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 3
- **4.** And they all lived happily ever after. — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 40, line 16: «In Liverpool "boss" means great; in the East Midlands "me duck" is a friendly way to address someone.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «good ending» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-3). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/t8/)

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### Test 9 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t9}

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★★★ Which sentence uses a rhetorical question for suspense?

- **1.** "Who wants pizza?" asked Dad, and all of us shouted yes at once. — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Who had left the gate open, and why was it still swinging? — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** What is the capital of France? Paris. — no support
- **4.** Where are my shoes? I asked Mum. — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/t9/)

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### Test 10 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t10}

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Why might a writer use a one-word sentence like "Silence."?

- **1.** To show that the story has ended — no support
- **2.** Because the writer ran out of words — **← Mova's choice** · score 3
- **3.** To slow the moment and make it stand out — **✓ the right answer** · score 3
- **4.** To make the reader skip ahead — score 2

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**Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 3, tied with another option at 3 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 39, line 7: «Without a plan, writers often run out of ideas in the middle or cannot find an ending.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «run» (+2); the same doer «writers» (+1). The right option, 3, scored 3. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/t10/)

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### Test 11 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t11}

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A girl in Texas says "I'm fixin' to write the scariest story y'all ever read." Which is the best first tip?

- **1.** Don't show the monster too soon — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **2.** Explain the whole ending in line one — no support
- **3.** Use "suddenly" a lot — no support
- **4.** Put the monster's name in the title — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/t11/)

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### Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓ {#e1}

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Identify the technique whereby a chapter is concluded at a moment of unresolved danger.

- **1.** A cliffhanger — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **2.** A topic sentence — no support
- **3.** A resolution — no support
- **4.** A simile — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/e1/)

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### Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e2}

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Which of the following most accurately characterises the effect of a sequence of short sentences in a tense passage?

- **1.** It replaces all description with dialogue — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** It accelerates the action and diminishes anticipation — no support
- **3.** It decelerates the action and heightens anticipation — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** It signals the conclusion of the narrative — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/e2/)

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### Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e3}

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Select the response consistent with established principles of suspense.

- **1.** All information is supplied to the reader at the outset — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** The threat is described fully in the first sentence — no support
- **3.** The narrative avoids all uncertainty — no support
- **4.** Information concerning the threat is withheld from the reader — **✓ the right answer** · no support

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**Why:** Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/e3/)

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### Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓ {#e4}

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Ascertain the meaning of the regional term "mardy" as employed in the North and Midlands of England.

- **1.** Sulky or ill-tempered — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **2.** Courageous or bold — no support
- **3.** Frightening or alarming — no support
- **4.** Exhausted or weary — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/e4/)

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- ← previous: [41. Describing: senses, showing and precise words](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/english/41-describing-senses-showing-and-precise-words/)
- next →: [43. Editing and redrafting](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/english/43-editing-and-redrafting/)
- ↑ back to [English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/english/)