Exam question 4 · i before e, silent letters and other famous traps

Ascertain the sound represented by the letters ei in the word «neighbour».

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, represent · To what, where: sound

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 sound	det
3	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	represented	represent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 sound	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 letters	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 letters	det
7	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 represented	obl
8	ei	EI	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 letters	appos
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 word	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 word	det
11	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 represented	obl
12	«	«	PUNCT	_	13 neighbour	punct
13	neighbour	neighbour	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 word	appos
14	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 neighbour	punct
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the sound					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sound=Topic
2	represent	participle		the sound not said here				by the letters; in the word	vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot in word=Attribute

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 sound /ie/, as in the word «height»

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	root	root
3	/	/	SYM	_	4 ie	punct
4	ie	ie	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sound	appos
5	/	/	SYM	_	4 ie	punct
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 word	punct
7	as	as	ADP	_	10 word	case
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 word	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 word	det
10	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sound	conj
11	«	«	PUNCT	_	12 height	punct
12	height	height	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 word	appos
13	»	»	PUNCT	_	12 height	punct

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2

The sound /ee/, as in the word «receive»

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	root	root
3	/	/	PUNCT	_	4 ee	punct
4	ee	ee	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sound	appos
5	/	/	PUNCT	_	4 ee	punct
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 word	punct
7	as	as	ADP	_	10 word	case
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 word	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 word	det
10	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sound	conj
11	«	«	PUNCT	_	12 receive	punct
12	receive	receive	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	10 word	parataxis
13	»	»	PUNCT	_	12 receive	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	receive in a quote	infinitive							vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

No sound whatever, the letters being silent

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	2 sound	det
2	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 whatever	nsubj
3	whatever	whatever	PRON	PronType=Rel	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 whatever	punct
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 letters	det
6	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 silent	nsubj
7	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 silent	cop
8	silent	silent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 whatever	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	gerund	the letters					silent property	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The sound /ay/, as in the word «eight»

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	root	root
3	/	/	PUNCT	_	4 ay	punct
4	ay	ay	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sound	appos
5	/	/	PUNCT	_	4 ay	punct
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 word	punct
7	as	as	ADP	_	10 word	case
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 word	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 word	det
10	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sound	conj
11	«	«	PUNCT	_	12 eight	punct
12	eight	eight	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 word	appos
13	»	»	PUNCT	_	12 eight	punct

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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/e4/