Exam question 1 · How to learn spellings that stick

Identify the principal deficiency of copying a word repeatedly without verification.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, principal deficiency · What happens: identify, copy · To what, where: principal deficiency, word

This is exam question 1 of lesson 15 «How to learn spellings that stick» 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 deficiency	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 deficiency	amod
4	deficiency	deficiency	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	SCONJ	_	6 copying	mark
6	copying	copy	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 deficiency	acl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 word	det
8	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 copying	obj
9	repeatedly	repeatedly	ADV	_	6 copying	advmod
10	without	without	ADP	_	11 verification	case
11	verification	verification	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 copying	obl
12	.	.	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 deficiency					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent deficiency=Theme
2	copy	gerund	the principal deficiency not said here	a word				without verification; repeatedly property	vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=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 hand of the pupil is thereby rendered too fatigued

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 hand	det
2	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 rendered	nsubj:pass
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 pupil	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 pupil	det
5	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 hand	nmod
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 rendered	aux:pass
7	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	8 rendered	advmod
8	rendered	render	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	too	too	ADV	_	10 fatigued	advmod
10	fatigued	fatigue	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 rendered	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	present · passive		the hand of the pupil				thereby property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	fatigue	participle							vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

Option 2

No deficiency whatever attends the practice, which is the most efficient method known

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	2 deficiency	det
2	deficiency	deficiency	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	whatever	whatever	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 attends	nsubj
4	attends	attend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 deficiency	acl:relcl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 practice	det
6	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 attends	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 method	punct
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 method	nsubj
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 method	cop
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 method	det
11	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	12 efficient	advmod
12	efficient	efficient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 method	amod
13	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 practice	conj
14	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 method	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	attend	present	whatever	the practice and the efficient method	vn attend-107.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme practice=Goal
2	is a	present	the practice and the efficient method	the efficient method	tree rules
3	know	participle		the efficient method not said here	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

The word is thereby rendered too familiar to be remembered

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	5 rendered	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 rendered	aux:pass
4	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	5 rendered	advmod
5	rendered	render	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	too	too	ADV	_	7 familiar	advmod
7	familiar	familiar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 rendered	xcomp
8	to	to	PART	_	10 remembered	mark
9	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	10 remembered	aux:pass
10	remembered	remember	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 rendered	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	present · passive		the word				familiar, thereby property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	remember	to-infinitive · passive							vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

An erroneous spelling may thereby be practised and reinforced

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 spelling	det
2	erroneous	erroneous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 spelling	amod
3	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 practised	nsubj:pass
4	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 practised	aux
5	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	7 practised	advmod
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 practised	aux:pass
7	practised	practise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 reinforced	cc
9	reinforced	reinforce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 practised	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	practise	may · passive		a erroneous spelling				thereby property	tree rules
2	reinforce	participle							vn support-15.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot

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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