Exam question 2 · Sounds and letters: how phonics starts

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a digraph?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: digraph

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1 «Sounds and letters: how phonics starts» 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.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 digraph	det
10	digraph	digraph	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	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 digraph				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

Option 1 · ✓ the right answer

Two letters which together represent a single sound

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	2 letters	nummod
2	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 represent	obj
4	together	together	ADV	_	5 represent	advmod
5	represent	represent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 letters	acl:relcl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 sound	det
7	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 sound	amod
8	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 represent	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	represent	present		Two letters				together property	tree rules

Option 2

A letter which is written but not pronounced at all

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 letter	det
2	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 written	nsubj:pass
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 written	aux:pass
5	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 letter	acl:relcl
6	but	but	CCONJ	_	8 pronounced	cc
7	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	8 pronounced	advmod
8	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 written	conj
9	at	at	ADP	_	10 all	case
10	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 pronounced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	write	present · passive		a letter					vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	not pronounce	participle				all			vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Two words which are pronounced in an identical manner

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	2 words	nummod
2	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 pronounced	nsubj:pass
4	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 pronounced	aux:pass
5	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 words	acl:relcl
6	in	in	ADP	_	9 manner	case
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 manner	det
8	identical	identical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 manner	amod
9	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 pronounced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pronounce	present · passive		Two words		a identical manner			vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: subject=Theme in manner=Manner

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

A single letter which represents two separate sounds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 letter	det
2	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 letter	amod
3	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 represents	nsubj
5	represents	represent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 letter	acl:relcl
6	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 sounds	nummod
7	separate	separate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 sounds	amod
8	sounds	sound	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 represents	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	represent	present	a single letter	two separate sounds					vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot sound=Theme

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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/1-sounds-and-letters-how-phonics-starts/e2/