Exam question 3 · i before e, silent letters and other famous traps

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the letter s in «island».

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, letter, island

This is exam question 3 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	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 letter	det
11	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	s	's	PART	Typo=Yes	11 letter	case
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 island	case
14	«	«	PUNCT	_	15 island	punct
15	island	island	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 letter	nmod
16	»	»	PUNCT	_	15 island	punct
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	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 letter	island		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus letter=Experiencer

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

It indicates that the word is a plural noun

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 indicates	nsubj
2	indicates	indicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 noun	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 word	det
5	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 noun	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 noun	cop
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 noun	det
8	plural	plural	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 noun	amod
9	noun	noun	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 indicates	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	indicate	present	It						vn indicate-78-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot
2	is a	present	the word	a plural noun					tree rules

Option 2

It was inserted in the present century by lexicographers in order to distinguish the word from «Iceland» and from «highland»

The tree, 20 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	3 inserted	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 inserted	aux:pass
3	inserted	insert	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 century	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 century	det
6	present	present	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 century	amod
7	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 inserted	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 lexicographers	case
9	lexicographers	lexicographer	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 inserted	obl
10	in	in	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	13 distinguish	mark
11	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 in	fixed
12	to	to	PART	_	13 distinguish	mark
13	distinguish	distinguish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 inserted	advcl
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 word	det
15	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 distinguish	obj
16	from	from	ADP	_	18 Iceland	case
17	«	«	PUNCT	_	18 Iceland	punct
18	Iceland	Iceland	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 distinguish	obl
19	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 distinguish	punct
20	and	and	CCONJ	_	23 highland	cc
21	from	from	ADP	_	23 highland	case
22	«	«	PUNCT	_	23 highland	punct
23	highland	highland	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 distinguish	conj
24	»	»	PUNCT	_	23 highland	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	insert	past · passive	lexicographers	It			century		vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	distinguish	to-infinitive	lexicographers not said here	the word				from Iceland	vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent word=Theme from iceland=Co-Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It was inserted by scholars in the erroneous belief that the word derived from Latin

The tree, 15 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	3 inserted	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing 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 scholars	case
5	scholars	scholar	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 inserted	obl:agent
6	in	in	ADP	_	9 belief	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 belief	det
8	erroneous	erroneous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 belief	amod
9	belief	belief	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 inserted	obl
10	that	that	SCONJ	_	13 derived	mark
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 word	det
12	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 derived	nsubj
13	derived	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 belief	acl
14	from	from	ADP	_	15 Latin	case
15	Latin	Latin	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 derived	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	insert	past · passive	scholars	It		the erroneous belief			vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent subject=Theme in belief=Destination
2	derive	past	the word	the erroneous belief not said here		Latin			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent belief=Result from latin=Material

Option 4

It has been pronounced throughout the history of the word

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	4 pronounced	nsubj:pass
2	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 pronounced	aux
3	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 pronounced	aux:pass
4	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	7 history	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 history	det
7	history	history	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 pronounced	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 word	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 word	det
10	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 history	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pronounce	present · perfect · passive		It			throughout the history of the word		vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: subject=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.

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