Exam question 4 · How to learn spellings that stick

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a mnemonic?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: mnemonic

This is exam question 4 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 mnemonic	det
10	mnemonic	mnemonic	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		a mnemonic				of the following statements; accurately 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 · ← Mova's choice

A test administered at the close of each week

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 test	det
2	test	test	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	administered	administer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 test	acl
4	at	at	ADP	_	6 close	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 close	det
6	close	close	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 administered	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 week	case
8	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	9 week	det
9	week	week	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 close	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	administer	participle		a test not said here		the close of each week			vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

A dictionary arranged according to sound rather than spelling, for the use of pupils

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 dictionary	det
2	dictionary	dictionary	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 arranged	nsubj
3	arranged	arrange	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	according	accord	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 arranged	xcomp
5	to	to	PART	_	6 sound	mark
6	sound	sound	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 according	xcomp
7	rather	rather	ADV	ExtPos=CCONJ	9 spelling	cc
8	than	than	ADP	_	7 rather	fixed
9	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 sound	conj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 use	punct
11	for	for	ADP	_	13 use	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 use	det
13	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 arranged	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 pupils	case
15	pupils	pupil	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 use	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	arrange	past	a dictionary		for the use of pupils	tree rules
2	accord	gerund	a dictionary not said here			tree rules
3	sound	to-infinitive	a dictionary not said here			vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus
4	use			pupils		nom use «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

A rule which governs the spelling of every word

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 rule	det
2	rule	rule	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 governs	nsubj
4	governs	govern	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 rule	acl:relcl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 spelling	det
6	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 governs	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 word	case
8	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	9 word	det
9	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 spelling	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	govern	present	a rule	the spelling of every word					vn supervision-95.2.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent spelling=Theme
2	spell			every word					nom spelling «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

A device to assist the memory, of particular use for exceptionally difficult words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 device	det
2	device	device	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 assist	mark
4	assist	assist	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 device	acl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 memory	det
6	memory	memory	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 assist	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 use	punct
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 use	case
9	particular	particular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 use	amod
10	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 device	conj
11	for	for	ADP	_	14 words	case
12	exceptionally	exceptionally	ADV	_	13 difficult	advmod
13	difficult	difficult	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 words	amod
14	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 device	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	assist	to-infinitive		the memory					vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent memory=Beneficiary

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/15-how-to-learn-spellings-that-stick/e4/