Exam question 2 · i before e, silent letters and other famous traps

Identify the principal origin of most silent letters in English words.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify · To what, where: principal origin

This is exam question 2 of lesson 10 «i before e, silent letters and other famous traps» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 origin	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 origin	amod
4	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 letters	case
6	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	8 letters	amod
7	silent	silent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 letters	amod
8	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 origin	nmod
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 words	case
10	English	English	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 words	amod
11	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 letters	nmod
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal origin of most silent letters in English words					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent origin=Theme

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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

They represent sounds formerly pronounced, which the spelling has preserved

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 pronounced	nsubj
2	represent	represent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 pronounced	aux
3	sounds	sound	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 pronounced	aux
4	formerly	formerly	ADV	_	5 pronounced	advmod
5	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 preserved	punct
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 preserved	nsubj:pass
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 spelling	det
9	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 preserved	nsubj:pass
10	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 preserved	aux
11	preserved	preserve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 pronounced	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pronounce	present	They					formerly property	vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	preserve	present · perfect · passive							vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Beneficiary

Option 2

They were introduced in order to render spelling more difficult for pupils

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 introduced	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 introduced	aux:pass
3	introduced	introduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 order	case
5	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 introduced	obl
6	to	to	PART	_	7 render	mark
7	render	render	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 introduced	advcl
8	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 render	obj
9	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	10 difficult	advmod
10	difficult	difficult	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 render	ccomp
11	for	for	ADP	_	12 pupils	case
12	pupils	pupil	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 difficult	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	introduce	past · passive		They		order			vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	render	to-infinitive		spelling					vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spelling=Theme

Option 3

They represent sounds that will be pronounced in future

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 represent	nsubj
2	represent	represent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	sounds	sound	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 represent	obj
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 pronounced	obj
5	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 pronounced	aux
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 pronounced	aux:pass
7	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 sounds	acl:relcl
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 future	case
9	future	future	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 pronounced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	represent	present	They	sounds					vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot sound=Theme
2	pronounce	future · passive		sounds		future			vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: that=Theme in future=Manner

Option 4

They were inserted by printers in order to fill the line

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 inserted	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 inserted	aux:pass
3	inserted	insert	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 printers	case
5	printers	printer	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 inserted	obl
6	in	in	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	9 fill	mark
7	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 in	fixed
8	to	to	PART	_	9 fill	mark
9	fill	fill	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 inserted	advcl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 line	det
11	line	line	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 fill	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	insert	past · passive		They				by printers	vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme by printer=Destination
2	fill	to-infinitive		the line					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent line=Patient

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/10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps/e2/