Test 9 · Sounds and letters: how phonics starts

In a cartoon, a talking letter S says its name, «ESS!», and the word «sat» appears. What is wrong?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: word, letter · What happens: say, sit, appear, name, be · To what, where: name, cartoon · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 9 of lesson 1 «Sounds and letters: how phonics starts» of the English course of Mova's primary school. 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

Sentence 1: In a cartoon, a talking letter S says its name, «ESS!», and the word «sat» appears.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	In	in	ADP	_	3 cartoon	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 cartoon	det
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 says	obl
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 cartoon	punct
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 letter	det
6	talking	talking	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 letter	compound
7	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 says	nmod:poss
8	S	's	PART	Typo=Yes	7 letter	case
9	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 name	nmod:poss
11	name	name	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 says	obj
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 ESS	punct
13	«	«	PUNCT	_	14 ESS	punct
14	ESS	ess	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 says	ccomp
15	!	!	PUNCT	_	14 ESS	punct
16	»	»	PUNCT	_	14 ESS	punct
17	,	,	PUNCT	_	24 appears	punct
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	24 appears	cc
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 word	det
20	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 appears	nsubj
21	«	«	PUNCT	_	22 sat	punct
22	sat	sit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	20 word	acl:relcl
23	»	»	PUNCT	_	22 sat	punct
24	appears	appear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 says	conj
25	.	.	PUNCT	_	9 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present		letter's name	a cartoon	vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent name=Theme in cartoon=Manner
2	sit in a quote	past	the word not said here			vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	appear	present	the word			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	name		letter			nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent

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.

Sentence 2: What is wrong?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 wrong	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 wrong	cop
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 wrong	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present						wrong property	tree rules

The options

Option 1

The word should be «ess-at», spelled with four letters

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 word	det
2	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 ess	nsubj
3	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 ess	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 ess	cop
5	«	«	PUNCT	_	6 ess	punct
6	ess	ess	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	8 at	punct
8	at	at	ADP	_	6 ess	nmod
9	»	»	PUNCT	_	8 at	punct
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 spelled	punct
11	spelled	spell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 ess	acl
12	with	with	ADP	_	14 letters	case
13	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	14 letters	nummod
14	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 spelled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a in a quote	should	the word	ess					tree rules
2	spell	participle		ess not said here				with four letters	vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent with letter=Manner

Option 2

S should say «suh-uh» for the word to work

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	S	s	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 say	nsubj
2	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 say	aux
3	say	say	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	«	«	PUNCT	_	7 uh	punct
5	suh	suh	INTJ	_	7 uh	discourse
6	-	-	PUNCT	_	7 uh	punct
7	uh	uh	INTJ	_	3 say	obj
8	»	»	PUNCT	_	7 uh	punct
9	for	for	ADP	_	11 word	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 word	det
11	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 say	obl
12	to	to	PART	_	13 work	mark
13	work	work	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 say	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	should	S					for the word	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent uh=Topic
2	work	to-infinitive	S not said here						vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Nothing, letter names build words in real reading

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	4 names	compound
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Nothing	punct
3	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 names	compound
4	names	name	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 build	nsubj
5	build	build	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 build	obj
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 reading	case
8	real	real	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 reading	amod
9	reading	reading	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 build	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	build	present	Nothing letter names	words		real reading			vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset word=Product

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The sound /s/ is what goes into «sat», not the name

The tree, 11 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 sound	det
2	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 goes	nsubj
3	/	/	PUNCT	_	4 s	punct
4	s	s	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sound	conj
5	/	/	PUNCT	_	2 sound	punct
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 goes	cop
7	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	8 goes	nsubj
8	goes	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	into	into	SCONJ	_	11 sat	mark
10	«	«	PUNCT	_	11 sat	punct
11	sat	sit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 goes	advcl
12	»	»	PUNCT	_	11 sat	punct
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 name	punct
14	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	16 name	advmod
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 name	det
16	name	name	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 goes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the sound and s					the name obl; go property	tree rules
2	sit in a quote	past	the sound and s not said here						vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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/t9/