Exam question 2 · Standard English and dialect: "we was" in talk, "we were"…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the relationship between Standard English and regional dialects?

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

This is exam question 2 of lesson 38 «Standard English and dialect: "we was" in talk, "we were" in writing» 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 relationship	det
10	relationship	relationship	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	between	between	ADP	_	13 English	case
12	Standard	Standard	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 English	compound
13	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 relationship	nmod
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 dialects	cc
15	regional	regional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 dialects	amod
16	dialects	dialect	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 English	conj
17	?	?	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 relationship				of the following statements; between Standard English and regional dialects; 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

Standard English is the only variety possessing grammatical rules

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Standard	Standard	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 English	compound
2	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 variety	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 variety	cop
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 variety	det
5	only	only	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 variety	amod
6	variety	variety	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	possessing	possess	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 variety	acl
8	grammatical	grammatical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 rules	amod
9	rules	rule	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 possessing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Standard English	the only variety					tree rules
2	possess	gerund	the only variety not said here	grammatical rules					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot rule=Theme

Option 2

Regional dialects are erroneous forms of Standard English

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Regional	regional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 dialects	amod
2	dialects	dialect	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 forms	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 forms	cop
4	erroneous	erroneous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 forms	amod
5	forms	form	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 English	case
7	Standard	Standard	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 English	compound
8	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 forms	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Regional dialects	erroneous forms				of Standard English	tree rules

Option 3

Regional dialects are not varieties of English

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Regional	regional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 dialects	amod
2	dialects	dialect	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 varieties	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 varieties	cop
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 varieties	advmod
5	varieties	variety	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 English	case
7	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 varieties	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is a	present	Regional dialects	varieties				of English	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Standard English is one variety among many, conventionally used in formal writing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Standard	Standard	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 English	compound
2	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 variety	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 variety	cop
4	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 variety	nummod
5	variety	variety	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	among	among	ADP	_	7 many	case
7	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 variety	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 used	punct
9	conventionally	conventionally	ADV	_	10 used	advmod
10	used	use	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 variety	acl
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 writing	case
12	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 writing	amod
13	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 used	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Standard English	one variety				among many	tree rules
2	use	participle		one variety not said here		formal writing		conventionally property	vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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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