Exam question 4 · Homophones and near-homophones

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the words «accept» and «except».

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, accept · To what, where: response, words · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 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	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 words	det
11	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 concerning	obj
12	«	«	PUNCT	_	13 accept	punct
13	accept	accept	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 concerning	ccomp
14	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 accept	punct
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 except	cc
16	«	«	PUNCT	_	17 except	punct
17	except	except	ADP	_	13 accept	obl
18	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 accept	punct
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	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 words		tree rules
4	accept in a quote	infinitive	the established facts not said here			vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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

«Except» signifies to receive, whereas «accept» signifies to exclude

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	2 Except	punct
2	Except	except	X	_	4 signifies	nsubj
3	»	»	PUNCT	_	2 Except	punct
4	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 receive	mark
6	receive	receive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 signifies	xcomp
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 accept	punct
8	whereas	whereas	ADV	PronType=Int	10 accept	advmod
9	«	«	PUNCT	_	10 accept	punct
10	accept	accept	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	12 signifies	nsubj
11	»	»	PUNCT	_	10 accept	punct
12	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 signifies	conj
13	to	to	PART	_	14 exclude	mark
14	exclude	exclude	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 signifies	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	signify	present	Except		tree rules
2	receive	to-infinitive	Except not said here		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	accept in a quote	infinitive		whereas property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	signify	present			tree rules
5	exclude	to-infinitive			vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Causer

Option 2

«Accept» is employed only in formal correspondence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	2 Accept	punct
2	Accept	accept	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 employed	nsubj:pass
3	»	»	PUNCT	_	2 Accept	punct
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 employed	aux:pass
5	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	only	only	ADV	_	9 correspondence	advmod
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 correspondence	case
8	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 correspondence	amod
9	correspondence	correspondence	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 employed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	accept in a quote	infinitive							vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	employ	present · passive				formal correspondence			vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Both words signify «not including» and may be used interchangeably

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	2 words	det
2	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 signify	nsubj
3	signify	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	«	«	PUNCT	_	6 including	punct
5	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	6 including	advmod
6	including	include	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 signify	ccomp
7	»	»	PUNCT	_	6 including	punct
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 used	cc
9	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 used	aux
10	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	11 used	aux:pass
11	used	use	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 signify	conj
12	interchangeably	interchangeably	ADV	_	11 used	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	signify	present	both words		tree rules
2	not include in a quote	gerund	both words not said here		vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	use	may · passive	both words not said here	interchangeably property	vn eat-39.1 «NP V»

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

«Accept» signifies to receive or agree, whereas «except» signifies «not including»

The tree, 11 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	2 Accept	punct
2	Accept	accept	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	4 signifies	nsubj
3	»	»	PUNCT	_	2 Accept	punct
4	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 receive	mark
6	receive	receive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 signifies	xcomp
7	or	or	CCONJ	_	8 agree	cc
8	agree	agree	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 receive	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 signifies	punct
10	whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	14 signifies	mark
11	«	«	PUNCT	_	12 except	punct
12	except	except	ADP	_	10 whereas	conj
13	»	»	PUNCT	_	12 except	punct
14	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 signifies	conj
15	«	«	PUNCT	_	17 including	punct
16	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	17 including	advmod
17	including	include	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 signifies	ccomp
18	»	»	PUNCT	_	4 signifies	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	roles by
1	accept in a quote	infinitive	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	signify	present	tree rules
3	receive	to-infinitive	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	agree speech: agree	infinitive	vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
5	signify	present	tree rules
6	not include in a quote	gerund	vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP»: 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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