Exam question 2 · How to learn spellings that stick

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning spaced practice.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, space · To what, where: response, spaced practice

This is exam question 2 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	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	spaced	space	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 practice	amod
11	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	.	.	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	spaced practice		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus practice=Experiencer
4	space	participle				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

Practice is of no benefit whatever to spelling

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 benefit	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 benefit	cop
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 benefit	case
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 benefit	det
5	benefit	benefit	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	whatever	whatever	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 benefit	nmod
7	to	to	PART	_	8 spelling	mark
8	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 whatever	nsubj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Practice					of no benefit; whatever nmod	tree rules

Option 2

Practice is beneficial only when undertaken in silence at a desk, in the absence of any distraction whatsoever, for a period of not less than one hour

The tree, 27 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 beneficial	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 beneficial	cop
3	beneficial	beneficial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	only	only	ADV	_	6 undertaken	advmod
5	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	6 undertaken	advmod
6	undertaken	undertake	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 beneficial	advcl
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 silence	case
8	silence	silence	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 undertaken	obl
9	at	at	ADP	_	11 desk	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 desk	det
11	desk	desk	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 silence	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 absence	punct
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 absence	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 absence	det
15	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 undertaken	parataxis
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 distraction	case
17	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	18 distraction	det
18	distraction	distraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 absence	nmod
19	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	18 distraction	advmod
20	,	,	PUNCT	_	23 period	punct
21	for	for	ADP	_	23 period	case
22	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	23 period	det
23	period	period	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 undertaken	obl
24	of	of	ADP	_	29 hour	case
25	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	26 less	advmod
26	less	less	ADJ	Degree=Cmp ExtPos=ADV	29 hour	advmod
27	than	than	ADP	_	26 less	fixed
28	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	29 hour	nummod
29	hour	hour	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 period	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is	present	Practice			beneficial property	tree rules
2	undertake	participle	Practice not said here		silence at a desk	for a period of one hour	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
3	absent			any distraction			nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Material crammed into a single evening is retained longest

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Material	material	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 retained	nsubj:pass
2	crammed	cram	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Material	acl
3	into	into	ADP	_	6 evening	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 evening	det
5	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 evening	amod
6	evening	evening	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 crammed	obl
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 retained	aux:pass
8	retained	retain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	longest	long	ADJ	Degree=Sup	8 retained	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cram	participle		Material not said here			evening		vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	retain	present · passive		Material					tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Small amounts studied over several days are retained better than amounts crammed into one session

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 amounts	amod
2	amounts	amount	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 studied	nsubj
3	studied	study	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	over	over	SCONJ	_	8 retained	mark
5	several	several	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 days	amod
6	days	day	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 retained	nsubj
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 retained	aux:pass
8	retained	retain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 studied	ccomp
9	better	good	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	8 retained	xcomp
10	than	than	ADP	_	11 amounts	case
11	amounts	amount	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 better	obl
12	crammed	cram	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 retained	advcl
13	into	into	ADP	_	15 session	case
14	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	15 session	nummod
15	session	session	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 crammed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	study	past	Small amounts				vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	retain	present · passive		several days		good property	tree rules
3	cram	participle			one session		vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme into session=Destination

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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