Test 6 · ★ · i before e, silent letters and other famous traps

«I'm writin' Wensday cos it's what I say, innit». What should she do?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: I, Wensday, writin · What happens: be, co, say, innit, do · To what, where: writin · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 6 · ★ 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: «I'm writin' Wensday cos it's what I say, innit».

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	4 writin	punct
2	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	4 writin	nsubj
3	'm	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 writin	cop
4	writin	writin	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 cos	obl
5	'	'	PUNCT	_	7 cos	punct
6	Wensday	Wensday	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 cos	nsubj
7	cos	co	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 what	nsubj
9	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 what	cop
10	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	7 cos	obj
11	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	12 say	nsubj
12	say	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 what	acl:relcl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 innit	punct
14	innit	innit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 say	ccomp
15	»	»	PUNCT	_	14 innit	punct
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	7 cos	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	is a in a quote	present	I	writin	tree rules
2	co in a quote	present	Wensday		tree rules
3	is a in a quote	present	writin		tree rules
4	say speech: assert in a quote	present	I		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
5	innit in a quote	infinitive			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 should she do?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	4 do	obj
2	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 do	aux
3	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 do	nsubj
4	do	do	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 do	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	do	should	Wensday						vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Say «Wed-nes-day» in her head when she spells it

The tree, 11 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Say	say	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	«	«	PUNCT	_	5 nes	punct
3	Wed	Wednesday	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 nes	compound
4	-	-	PUNCT	_	3 Wed	punct
5	nes	ne	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Say	obj
6	-	-	PUNCT	_	7 day	punct
7	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 nes	compound
8	»	»	PUNCT	_	5 nes	punct
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 head	case
10	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 head	nmod:poss
11	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Say	obl
12	when	when	SCONJ	_	14 spells	mark
13	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 spells	nsubj
14	spells	spell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Say	advcl
15	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 spells	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	imperative	you not said here	Wed nes		her head			vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent ne=Theme in head=Manner
2	spell	present	she	head					vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Agent it=Theme

Option 2

Write «Wensday», spelling always follows speech

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Write	write	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	«	«	PUNCT	_	3 Wensday	punct
3	Wensday	Wensday	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 follows	nsubj
4	»	»	PUNCT	_	3 Wensday	punct
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 spelling	punct
6	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 follows	nsubj
7	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	8 follows	advmod
8	follows	follow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Write	ccomp
9	speech	speech	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 follows	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	write	imperative	you not said here						vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	follow	present	Wensday	speech				always property	vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent speech=Theme

Option 3

Write «Weds» in all her school work, since that is the short form everyone uses

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Write	write	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	«	«	PUNCT	_	3 Weds	punct
3	Weds	wed	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Write	obj
4	»	»	PUNCT	_	3 Weds	punct
5	in	in	ADP	_	9 work	case
6	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	9 work	det:predet
7	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 work	nmod:poss
8	school	school	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 work	compound
9	work	work	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Write	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 form	punct
11	since	since	SCONJ	_	16 form	mark
12	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	16 form	nsubj
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 form	cop
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 form	det
15	short	short	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 form	amod
16	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Write	obl
17	everyone	everyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Tot	18 uses	nsubj
18	uses	use	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 form	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	write	imperative	you not said here	Weds	her school work	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent wed=Theme in work=Destination
2	is a	present	that	the short form		tree rules
3	use	present	everyone	the short form not said here		vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent form=Patient
4	work		her = she			nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

Write «Wendsday», with the d at the end

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Write	write	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	«	«	PUNCT	_	3 Wendsday	punct
3	Wendsday	Wendsday	PROPN	Number=Sing	1 Write	obj
4	»	»	PUNCT	_	3 Wendsday	punct
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 d	punct
6	with	with	ADP	_	8 d	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 d	det
8	d	D	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Write	conj
9	at	at	ADP	_	11 end	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 end	det
11	end	end	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Write	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	write	imperative	you not said here	Wendsday			at the end		vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wendsday=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps/t6/