Test 3 · ★ · i before e, silent letters and other famous traps

«that rule is wicked dumb, what about their?» What would a teacher say?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: rule, teacher · What happens: be, say · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 10 «i before e, silent letters and other famous traps» 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: «that rule is wicked dumb, what about their?»

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	6 dumb	punct
2	that	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 rule	det
3	rule	rule	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 dumb	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 dumb	cop
5	wicked	wicked	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 dumb	amod
6	dumb	dumb	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 what	punct
8	what	what	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 dumb	obl
9	about	about	ADP	_	10 their	case
10	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 what	acl:relcl
11	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 dumb	punct
12	»	»	PUNCT	_	6 dumb	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is in a quote	present	that rule					dumb property	tree rules

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 would a teacher say?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	5 say	obj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 say	aux
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 teacher	det
4	teacher	teacher	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 say	nsubj
5	say	say	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 say	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	would	a teacher						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic

The options

Option 1

«Their» is spelled «thier»

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	5 spelled	punct
2	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 spelled	nsubj:pass
3	»	»	PUNCT	_	2 Their	punct
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 spelled	aux:pass
5	spelled	spell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	«	«	PUNCT	_	7 thier	punct
7	thier	thy	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 spelled	xcomp
8	»	»	PUNCT	_	5 spelled	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	spell	present · passive		Their = they				thy property	vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The rule is only for /ee/; «their» doesn't have that sound

The tree, 12 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 rule	det
2	rule	rule	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 ee	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 ee	cop
4	only	only	ADV	_	7 ee	advmod
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 ee	case
6	/	/	PUNCT	_	5 for	punct
7	ee	ee	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	/	/	PUNCT	_	7 ee	punct
9	;	;	PUNCT	_	15 have	punct
10	«	«	PUNCT	_	11 their	punct
11	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 have	nsubj
12	»	»	PUNCT	_	11 their	punct
13	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 have	aux
14	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	15 have	advmod
15	have	have	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 ee	parataxis
16	that	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	17 sound	det
17	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 have	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the rule					for ee	tree rules
2	not have	present · do-support	their = they	that sound					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sound=Patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Dad is right; the rule is useless for every single word in English

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dad	dad	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 right	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 right	cop
3	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	;	;	PUNCT	_	8 useless	punct
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 rule	det
6	rule	rule	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 useless	nsubj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 useless	cop
8	useless	useless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 right	conj
9	for	for	ADP	_	12 word	case
10	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	12 word	det
11	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 word	amod
12	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 useless	obl
13	in	in	ADP	_	14 English	case
14	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 word	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Dad					right property	tree rules
2	is	present	the rule					for every single word in English; useless property	tree rules

Option 4

«Their» follows the rule because it has no c

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	2 Their	punct
2	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 follows	nsubj
3	»	»	PUNCT	_	2 Their	punct
4	follows	follow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 rule	det
6	rule	rule	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 follows	obj
7	because	because	SCONJ	_	9 has	mark
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 has	nsubj
9	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 follows	advcl
10	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	11 c	det
11	c	c	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 has	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	present	Their = they	the rule					vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rule=Theme
2	have	present	rule	no c					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent c=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/t3/