Exam question 3 · Tricky words and common exception words

Identify the principal reason for which numerous common English words possess irregular spellings.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, numerous common English words · What happens: identify, possess · To what, where: principal reason, irregular spellings

This is exam question 3 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	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	11 possess	obl
7	numerous	numerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 words	amod
8	common	common	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 words	amod
9	English	English	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 words	amod
10	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 possess	nsubj
11	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
12	irregular	irregular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 spellings	amod
13	spellings	spelling	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 possess	obj
14	.	.	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 reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	possess	present	numerous common English words	irregular spellings				for the principal reason	vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot spelling=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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Their pronunciation altered over centuries whilst their spelling remained unchanged

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 pronunciation	nmod:poss
2	pronunciation	pronunciation	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 remained	nsubj
3	altered	alter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 pronunciation	acl
4	over	over	ADP	_	5 centuries	case
5	centuries	century	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 altered	obl
6	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	_	8 spelling	case
7	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 spelling	nmod:poss
8	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 altered	obl
9	remained	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	unchanged	unchanged	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 remained	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	alter	participle		Their pronunciation not said here	century	whilst their spelling	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	remain	past	Their pronunciation			unchanged property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	pronounce		Their = they				nom pronunciation «communication transitive»: poss=agent
4	spell		their = they				nom spelling «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

Their spelling is determined afresh each year by examination boards

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 spelling	nmod:poss
2	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 afresh	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 afresh	cop
4	determined	determined	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 afresh	amod
5	afresh	afresh	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	7 year	det
7	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 afresh	obl:unmarked
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 boards	case
9	examination	examination	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 boards	compound
10	boards	board	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 afresh	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Their spelling				year	by examination boards; afresh property	tree rules
2	spell		Their = they						nom spelling «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

They were invented recently and have not yet acquired settled spellings

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 invented	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 invented	aux:pass
3	invented	invent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	recently	recently	ADV	_	3 invented	advmod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 acquired	cc
6	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 acquired	aux
7	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 acquired	advmod
8	yet	yet	ADV	_	9 acquired	advmod
9	acquired	acquire	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	3 invented	conj
10	settled	settled	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 spellings	amod
11	spellings	spelling	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 acquired	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	invent	past · passive		They				recently property	vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result
2	not acquire	present · perfect		settled spellings			yet		vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset spelling=Theme

Option 4

They were deliberately misspelled by scholars in order to test pupils

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 misspelled	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 misspelled	aux:pass
3	deliberately	deliberately	ADV	_	4 misspelled	advmod
4	misspelled	misspell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 scholars	case
6	scholars	scholar	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 misspelled	obl:agent
7	in	in	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	10 test	mark
8	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 in	fixed
9	to	to	PART	_	10 test	mark
10	test	test	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 misspelled	advcl
11	pupils	pupil	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 test	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	misspell	past · passive	scholars	They				deliberately property	vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	test	to-infinitive	scholars not said here	pupils					vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pupil=Theme

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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