Exam question 2 · Tricky words and common exception words

Ascertain the most appropriate response of a parent to a child who writes «sed» in place of «said».

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, child, place · What happens: ascertain, write, s, say · To what, where: appropriate response, place · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 3 «Tricky words and common exception words» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 response	det
3	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	4 appropriate	advmod
4	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 response	amod
5	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 parent	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 parent	det
8	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 response	nmod
9	to	to	ADP	_	11 child	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 child	det
11	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 response	nmod
12	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 writes	nsubj
13	writes	write	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 child	acl:relcl
14	«	«	PUNCT	_	15 sed	punct
15	sed	s	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 writes	ccomp
16	»	»	PUNCT	_	15 sed	punct
17	in	in	ADP	_	18 place	case
18	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 writes	obl
19	of	of	ADP	_	21 said	case
20	«	«	PUNCT	_	21 said	punct
21	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	18 place	acl:relcl
22	»	»	PUNCT	_	21 said	punct
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the appropriate response of a parent		to a child	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Topic
2	write	present	a child		place		vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	s in a quote	participle	a child not said here				tree rules
4	say speech: assert in a quote	past	place not said here				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent

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

To accept the spelling permanently, since it faithfully reflects the sounds of the word as spoken

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 accept	mark
2	accept	accept	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 spelling	det
4	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 accept	obj
5	permanently	permanently	ADV	_	2 accept	advmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 reflects	punct
7	since	since	SCONJ	_	10 reflects	mark
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 reflects	nsubj
9	faithfully	faithfully	ADV	_	10 reflects	advmod
10	reflects	reflect	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 accept	parataxis
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 sounds	det
12	sounds	sound	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 reflects	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 word	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 word	det
15	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 sounds	nmod
16	as	as	SCONJ	_	17 spoken	mark
17	spoken	speak	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 accept	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	accept	to-infinitive		the spelling	permanently property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spelling=Theme
2	reflect	present	spelling	the sounds of the word	faithfully property	tree rules
3	speak speech: other	participle				vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

To erase the attempt immediately and in evident displeasure

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 erase	mark
2	erase	erase	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 attempt	det
4	attempt	attempt	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 erase	obj
5	immediately	immediately	ADV	_	2 erase	advmod
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 displeasure	cc
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 displeasure	case
8	evident	evident	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 displeasure	amod
9	displeasure	displeasure	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 immediately	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	erase	to-infinitive		the attempt				immediately property	vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent attempt=Source

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

To commend the accurate hearing of the sounds and demonstrate the correct spelling

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 commend	mark
2	commend	commend	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 hearing	det
4	accurate	accurate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 hearing	amod
5	hearing	hearing	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 commend	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 sounds	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sounds	det
8	sounds	sound	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 hearing	nmod
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 demonstrate	cc
10	demonstrate	demonstrate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 commend	conj
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 spelling	det
12	correct	correct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 spelling	amod
13	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 demonstrate	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	commend	to-infinitive		the accurate hearing of the sounds	vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hearing=Theme
2	demonstrate	present		the correct spelling	vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot spelling=Topic
3	hear		the sounds		nom hearing «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

To refer the child to a specialist without delay

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 refer	mark
2	refer	refer	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 child	det
4	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 refer	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 specialist	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 specialist	det
7	specialist	specialist	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 refer	obl
8	without	without	ADP	_	9 delay	case
9	delay	delay	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 refer	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	refer	to-infinitive		the child	a specialist			without delay	vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent child=Theme to specialist=Recipient

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/3-tricky-words-and-common-exception-words/e2/