Test 3 · Homophones and near-homophones

What would happen if we spelled «there», «their» and «they're» all the same?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: we, they · What happens: happen, spell, be

This is test 3 of lesson 11 «Homophones and near-homophones» 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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 happen	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 happen	aux
3	happen	happen	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	if	if	SCONJ	_	6 spelled	mark
5	we	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	6 spelled	nsubj
6	spelled	spell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 happen	advcl
7	«	«	PUNCT	_	8 there	punct
8	there	there	ADV	PronType=Dem	6 spelled	advmod
9	»	»	PUNCT	_	8 there	punct
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 their	punct
11	«	«	PUNCT	_	12 their	punct
12	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 happen	conj
13	»	»	PUNCT	_	3 happen	punct
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	21 same	cc
15	«	«	PUNCT	_	21 same	punct
16	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	21 same	nsubj
17	're	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	21 same	cop
18	»	»	PUNCT	_	17 're	punct
19	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	21 same	det:predet
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 same	det
21	same	same	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 happen	conj
22	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 happen	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	happen	would				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	spell a condition, not said to happen	participle	we	there		vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Agent
3	is	present	they		same 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.

The options

Option 1

Nothing, nobody ever needs the spelling

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 needs	punct
3	nobody	nobody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	5 needs	nsubj
4	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	5 needs	advmod
5	needs	need	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Nothing	acl:relcl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 spelling	det
7	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 needs	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	need	present	nobody	the spelling			ever		vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot spelling=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Readers would have to guess the meaning from the sentence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Readers	reader	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 have	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 have	aux
3	have	have	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 guess	mark
5	guess	guess	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 have	xcomp
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 meaning	det
7	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 guess	obj
8	from	from	ADP	_	10 sentence	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 sentence	det
10	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 guess	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	would	Readers						tree rules
2	guess	to-infinitive	Readers not said here	the meaning		the sentence			vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

All three words would mean «a place»

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	3 words	det
2	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 words	nummod
3	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 mean	nsubj
4	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 mean	aux
5	mean	mean	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	«	«	PUNCT	_	8 place	punct
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 place	det
8	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 mean	obj
9	»	»	PUNCT	_	8 place	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	would	all three words	a place					vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent place=Topic

Option 4

People would stop using them and say «they are» every time

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	People	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 stop	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 stop	aux
3	stop	stop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	using	use	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 stop	xcomp
5	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 using	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 say	cc
7	say	say	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 stop	conj
8	«	«	PUNCT	_	10 are	punct
9	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 are	nsubj
10	are	be	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 say	ccomp
11	»	»	PUNCT	_	3 stop	punct
12	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	13 time	det
13	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stop	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	stop	would	People		time	vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality
2	use	gerund	People not said here	People		vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient
3	say speech: assert	infinitive	People not said here			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
4	does in a quote	present	People			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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.

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