Exam question 2 · Prefixes: un-, dis-, mis-, re-, pre-, in-, im-, il-, ir-

Identify the principal reason for which the word «illegal» contains a double l.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, word · What happens: identify, contain · To what, where: principal reason, double l.

This is exam question 2 of lesson 12 «Prefixes: un-, dis-, mis-, re-, pre-, in-, im-, il-, ir-» 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 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 contains	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 word	det
8	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 contains	nsubj
9	«	«	PUNCT	_	10 illegal	punct
10	illegal	illegal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 word	amod
11	»	»	PUNCT	_	10 illegal	punct
12	contains	contain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 l.	det
14	double	double	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 l.	amod
15	l.	l.	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 contains	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	contain	present	the word	a double l.				for the principal reason	vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot l.=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

The double l is an irregularity for which no explanation has been advanced by grammarians

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 l	det
2	double	double	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 l	amod
3	l	l	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 irregularity	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 irregularity	cop
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 irregularity	det
6	irregularity	irregularity	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 which	case
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 advanced	obl
9	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	10 explanation	det
10	explanation	explanation	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 advanced	nsubj:pass
11	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 advanced	aux
12	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	13 advanced	aux:pass
13	advanced	advance	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 irregularity	acl:relcl
14	by	by	ADP	_	15 grammarians	case
15	grammarians	grammarian	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 advanced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the double l	a irregularity					tree rules
2	advance	present · perfect · passive	grammarians	no explanation				for a irregularity	vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent subject=Theme for which=Goal

Option 2

The letter l is doubled in all words of legal significance

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 l	det
2	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 l	compound
3	l	l	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 doubled	nsubj:pass
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 doubled	aux:pass
5	doubled	double	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 words	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 words	det
8	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 doubled	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 significance	case
10	legal	legal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 significance	amod
11	significance	significance	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 words	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	double	present · passive		the letter l		all words of legal significance			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient
2	word			legal significance					nom word «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The word was borrowed from French with its double l unchanged

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 word	det
2	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 borrowed	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 borrowed	aux:pass
4	borrowed	borrow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	from	from	ADP	_	6 French	case
6	French	French	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 borrowed	obl
7	with	with	ADP	_	11 unchanged	case
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 unchanged	nmod:poss
9	double	double	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 unchanged	amod
10	l	l	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 unchanged	compound
11	unchanged	unchanged	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 borrowed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	borrow	past · passive		the word		French		with word's double l unchanged	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: subject=Theme from french=Source

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The prefix il- precedes a root word commencing with the letter l

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 prefix	det
2	prefix	prefix	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 precedes	nsubj
3	il	IL	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 prefix	appos
4	-	-	PUNCT	_	3 il	punct
5	precedes	precede	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 word	det
7	root	root	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 word	compound
8	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 precedes	obj
9	commencing	commence	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 word	acl
10	with	with	ADP	_	13 l	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 l	det
12	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 l	compound
13	l	l	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 commencing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	precede	present	the prefix	a root word					vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme word=Co-Theme
2	commence	gerund	a root word not said here					with the letter l	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with l=Subeventuality

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/12-prefixes-un-dis-mis-re-pre-in-im-il-ir/e2/