Exam question 3 · Sounds and letters: how phonics starts

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the reading of pseudo-words by young pupils.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, read · To what, where: response, reading, pseudo words

This is exam question 3 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 reading	det
11	reading	reading	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	15 words	case
13	pseudo	pseudo	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 words	compound
14	-	-	PUNCT	_	13 pseudo	punct
15	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 reading	nmod
16	by	by	ADP	_	18 pupils	case
17	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 pupils	amod
18	pupils	pupil	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 concerning	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the reading of pseudo words	by young pupils	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus reading=Experiencer
4	read			pseudo words		nom reading «cognition transitive»: of=patient

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

It is prohibited in schools, as it confuses the learner

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 prohibited	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 prohibited	aux:pass
3	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 schools	case
5	schools	school	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 prohibited	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 confuses	punct
7	as	as	SCONJ	_	9 confuses	mark
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 confuses	nsubj
9	confuses	confuse	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 prohibited	conj
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 learner	det
11	learner	learner	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 confuses	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	present · passive		It		schools			vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	confuse	present	it	the learner					vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent learner=Patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It demonstrates that the pupil decodes the sounds rather than recalling familiar words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 demonstrates	nsubj
2	demonstrates	demonstrate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	6 decodes	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 pupil	det
5	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 decodes	nsubj
6	decodes	decode	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 demonstrates	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sounds	det
8	sounds	sound	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 decodes	obj
9	rather	rather	ADV	ExtPos=CCONJ	11 recalling	cc
10	than	than	ADP	_	9 rather	fixed
11	recalling	recall	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 decodes	conj
12	familiar	familiar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 words	amod
13	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 recalling	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	demonstrate	present	It		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	decode	present	the pupil	the sounds	tree rules
3	recall	gerund	the pupil not said here	familiar words	vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme

Option 3

It has no bearing whatsoever upon the assessment of reading, being merely a game for amusement

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 has	nsubj
2	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 bearing	det
4	bearing	bearing	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 has	obj
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	8 assessment	advmod
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 assessment	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 assessment	det
8	assessment	assessment	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 bearing	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 reading	case
10	reading	reading	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 assessment	nmod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 game	punct
12	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	15 game	cop
13	merely	merely	ADV	_	15 game	advmod
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 game	det
15	game	game	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 bearing	conj
16	for	for	ADP	_	17 amusement	case
17	amusement	amusement	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 game	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	have	present	It	no bearing and a game	upon the assessment of reading	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bearing=Patient
2	is a	gerund		a game	for amusement; merely property	tree rules
3	assess			reading		nom assessment «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

It demonstrates that the pupil has failed to learn the vocabulary of the language

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 demonstrates	nsubj
2	demonstrates	demonstrate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 failed	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 pupil	det
5	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 failed	nsubj
6	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 failed	aux
7	failed	fail	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	2 demonstrates	ccomp
8	to	to	PART	_	9 learn	mark
9	learn	learn	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 failed	xcomp
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 vocabulary	det
11	vocabulary	vocabulary	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 learn	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 language	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 language	det
14	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 vocabulary	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	demonstrate	present	It		vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot clause=Topic
2	fail	present · perfect	the pupil		vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
3	not learn	to-infinitive	the pupil not said here	the vocabulary of the language	vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vocabulary=Topic

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/e3/