Exam question 1 · Vowel teams, split digraphs and choosing the spelling

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the function of a final silent e in a split digraph?

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

This is exam question 1 of lesson 4 «Vowel teams, split digraphs and choosing the spelling» 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	_	15 e	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 e	det
13	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 e	amod
14	silent	silent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 e	amod
15	e	e	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 function	nmod
16	in	in	ADP	_	19 digraph	case
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 digraph	det
18	split	split	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 digraph	amod
19	digraph	digraph	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 e	nmod
20	?	?	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 a final silent e in a split digraph				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 indicates that the word is of foreign origin

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	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 origin	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 word	det
5	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 origin	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 origin	cop
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 origin	case
8	foreign	foreign	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 origin	amod
9	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 indicates	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	indicate	present	It						vn indicate-78-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot
2	is	present	the word					of foreign origin	tree rules

Option 2

It is pronounced as a separate syllable at the end of the word

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	3 pronounced	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 pronounced	aux:pass
3	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	as	as	ADP	_	7 syllable	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 syllable	det
6	separate	separate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 syllable	amod
7	syllable	syllable	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 pronounced	obl
8	at	at	ADP	_	10 end	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 end	det
10	end	end	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 pronounced	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 word	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 word	det
13	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 end	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pronounce	present · passive		It			at the end of the word	as a separate syllable	vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3

It serves solely as decoration and has no effect

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 serves	nsubj
2	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 serves	advmod
4	as	as	ADP	_	5 decoration	case
5	decoration	decoration	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 serves	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 has	cc
7	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 serves	conj
8	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	9 effect	det
9	effect	effect	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 has	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	It					as decoration; solely property	vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as decoration=Attribute
2	have	present		no effect					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent effect=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It causes the preceding vowel to be pronounced as its name

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 causes	nsubj
2	causes	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 vowel	det
4	preceding	precede	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 vowel	amod
5	vowel	vowel	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 causes	obj
6	to	to	PART	_	8 pronounced	mark
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 pronounced	aux:pass
8	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 vowel	acl
9	as	as	ADP	_	11 name	case
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 name	nmod:poss
11	name	name	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 pronounced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	cause	present	It	the preceding vowel		vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition vowel=Patient
2	precede	gerund				vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme
3	pronounce	to-infinitive · passive		the preceding vowel not said here	as vowel's name	vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»
4	name		vowel			nom name «communication transitive»: poss=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/4-vowel-teams-split-digraphs-and-choosing-the-spelling/e1/