Exam question 2 · Apostrophes: missing letters and belonging

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the function of the apostrophe in "can't"?

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

This is exam question 2 of lesson 34 «Apostrophes: missing letters and belonging» 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	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 function	det
10	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 apostrophe	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 apostrophe	det
13	apostrophe	apostrophe	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 function	nmod
14	in	in	SCONJ	_	16 ca	mark
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 ca	punct
16	ca	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 function	acl:relcl
17	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	16 ca	advmod
18	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 ca	punct
19	?	?	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		the function of the apostrophe				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

It denotes possession

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 denotes	nsubj
2	denotes	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	possession	possession	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denotes	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	present	It	possession					vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot possession=Topic

Option 2

It indicates a plural

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 indicates	nsubj
2	indicates	indicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 plural	det
4	plural	plural	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 indicates	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	indicate	present	It	a plural					vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot plural=Topic

Option 3

It separates two clauses

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 separates	nsubj
2	separates	separate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 clauses	nummod
4	clauses	clause	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 separates	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	separate	present	It	two clauses					vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clause=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It marks the omission of letters

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 marks	nsubj
2	marks	mark	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 omission	det
4	omission	omission	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 marks	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 letters	case
6	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 omission	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mark	present	It	the omission of letters					vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent omission=Destination
2	omit			letters					nom omission «act transitive»: of=patient

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/34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging/e2/