Exam question 3 · Homophones and near-homophones

Identify the principal distinction between «its» and «it's».

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, distinction · What happens: identify, be · To what, where: principal distinction

This is exam question 3 of lesson 11 «Homophones and near-homophones» 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 distinction	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 distinction	amod
4	distinction	distinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	between	between	ADP	_	7 its	case
6	«	«	PUNCT	_	7 its	punct
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 distinction	conj
8	»	»	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 's	cc
10	«	«	PUNCT	_	12 's	punct
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 's	nsubj
12	's	be	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	conj
13	»	»	PUNCT	_	12 's	punct
14	.	.	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 distinction					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent distinction=Theme
2	be in a quote	present	distinction						vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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

«It's» denotes possession, whereas «its» is a contraction of «it is»

The tree, 12 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	6 possession	punct
2	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 possession	nsubj
3	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 possession	cop
4	»	»	PUNCT	_	3 's	punct
5	denotes	denote	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 possession	cop
6	possession	possession	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 is	nsubj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 contraction	punct
8	whereas	whereas	ADV	PronType=Int	10 its	advmod
9	«	«	PUNCT	_	10 its	punct
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 contraction	nmod:poss
11	»	»	PUNCT	_	10 its	punct
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 contraction	cop
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 contraction	det
14	contraction	contraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 possession	appos
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 it	case
16	«	«	PUNCT	_	17 it	punct
17	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 contraction	nmod
18	is	be	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
19	»	»	PUNCT	_	18 is	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	possession		tree rules
2	is a	present		possession's contraction	of possession	tree rules
3	be in a quote	present	possession			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

«Its» is the British form and «it's» the American form of the same word

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	2 Its	punct
2	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 form	nsubj
3	»	»	PUNCT	_	2 Its	punct
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 form	cop
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 form	det
6	British	British	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 form	amod
7	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 form	cc
9	«	«	PUNCT	_	15 form	punct
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 form	nsubj
11	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 form	cop
12	»	»	PUNCT	_	11 's	punct
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 form	det
14	American	American	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 form	amod
15	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 form	conj
16	of	of	ADP	_	19 word	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 word	det
18	same	same	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 word	amod
19	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 form	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Its = it	the British form and the American form					tree rules
2	is a	present	it	the American form				of the same word	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

«Its» denotes possession, whereas «it's» is a contraction of «it is» or «it has»

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	2 Its	punct
2	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 denotes	nsubj
3	»	»	PUNCT	_	2 Its	punct
4	denotes	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	possession	possession	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 denotes	obj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 contraction	punct
7	whereas	whereas	ADV	PronType=Int	14 contraction	advmod
8	«	«	PUNCT	_	14 contraction	punct
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 contraction	nsubj
10	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 contraction	cop
11	»	»	PUNCT	_	10 's	punct
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 contraction	cop
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 contraction	det
14	contraction	contraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 possession	appos
15	of	of	SCONJ	_	18 is	mark
16	«	«	PUNCT	_	18 is	punct
17	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 is	nsubj
18	is	be	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	23 has	advcl
19	»	»	PUNCT	_	18 is	punct
20	or	or	CCONJ	_	23 has	cc
21	«	«	PUNCT	_	23 has	punct
22	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	23 has	nsubj
23	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 contraction	parataxis
24	»	»	PUNCT	_	4 denotes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	denote	present	Its = it	possession		vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot possession=Topic
2	is a	present	possession	a contraction	whereas property	tree rules
3	be in a quote	present	possession			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	have in a quote	present	possession			vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4

The two forms are interchangeable in all written English, whether formal or informal, and in all countries

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 forms	det
2	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 forms	nummod
3	forms	form	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 interchangeable	nsubj
4	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 interchangeable	cop
5	interchangeable	interchangeable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	9 English	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	9 English	det
8	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 English	amod
9	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 interchangeable	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 formal	punct
11	whether	whether	SCONJ	_	12 formal	mark
12	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 interchangeable	parataxis
13	or	or	CCONJ	_	14 informal	cc
14	informal	informal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 formal	conj
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 countries	punct
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 countries	cc
17	in	in	ADP	_	19 countries	case
18	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	19 countries	det
19	countries	country	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 interchangeable	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the two forms			all written English		interchangeable property	tree rules
2	write	participle							vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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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