Exam question 3 · Vowel teams, split digraphs and choosing the spelling

Identify the principal distinction between «ai» and «ay» as representations of the same sound.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, represent · To what, where: principal distinction, same sound

This is exam question 3 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 distinction	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 distinction	amod
4	distinction	distinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	between	between	ADP	_	7 ai	case
6	«	«	PUNCT	_	7 ai	punct
7	ai	ai	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 distinction	nmod
8	»	»	PUNCT	_	7 ai	punct
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 ay	cc
10	«	«	PUNCT	_	11 ay	punct
11	ay	ay	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 ai	conj
12	»	»	PUNCT	_	11 ay	punct
13	as	as	ADP	_	14 representations	case
14	representations	representation	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 ay	nmod
15	of	of	ADP	_	18 sound	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 sound	det
17	same	same	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 sound	amod
18	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 representations	nmod
19	.	.	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 distinction				between ai and ay as representations of the same sound	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent distinction=Theme
2	represent			the same sound					nom representation «cognition transitive»: of=patient

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

There is no distinction of any kind, the two being interchangeable in all words

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	There	there	PRON	PronType=Dem	2 is	expl
2	is	be	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 distinction	det
4	distinction	distinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 is	nsubj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 kind	case
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 kind	det
7	kind	kind	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 distinction	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 interchangeable	punct
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 interchangeable	det
10	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	12 interchangeable	nsubj
11	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 interchangeable	cop
12	interchangeable	interchangeable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 is	conj
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 words	case
14	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	15 words	det
15	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 interchangeable	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	be	present	no distinction of any kind		there		vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	is	gerund	two		all words	interchangeable property	tree rules
3	distinguish			any kind			nom distinction «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

«ai» occurs exclusively in nouns, whereas «ay» occurs exclusively in verbs

The tree, 11 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	2 ai	punct
2	ai	ai	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 occurs	nsubj
3	»	»	PUNCT	_	2 ai	punct
4	occurs	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	4 occurs	advmod
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 nouns	case
7	nouns	noun	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 occurs	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 occurs	punct
9	whereas	whereas	ADV	PronType=Int	13 occurs	advmod
10	«	«	PUNCT	_	11 ay	punct
11	ay	ay	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 occurs	nsubj
12	»	»	PUNCT	_	11 ay	punct
13	occurs	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 occurs	conj
14	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	13 occurs	advmod
15	in	in	ADP	_	16 verbs	case
16	verbs	verb	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 occurs	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occur	present	ai			nouns		exclusively property	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in noun=Location
2	occur	present	ay			verbs		exclusively, whereas property	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in verb=Location

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

«ai» generally occurs within a word, whereas «ay» generally occurs at its end

The tree, 13 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	2 ai	punct
2	ai	ai	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 occurs	nsubj
3	»	»	PUNCT	_	2 ai	punct
4	generally	generally	ADV	_	5 occurs	advmod
5	occurs	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	within	within	ADP	_	8 word	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 word	det
8	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 occurs	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 occurs	punct
10	whereas	whereas	ADV	PronType=Int	15 occurs	advmod
11	«	«	PUNCT	_	12 ay	punct
12	ay	ay	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 occurs	nsubj
13	»	»	PUNCT	_	12 ay	punct
14	generally	generally	ADV	_	15 occurs	advmod
15	occurs	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 occurs	conj
16	at	at	ADP	_	18 end	case
17	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 end	nmod:poss
18	end	end	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 occurs	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occur	present	ai					within a word; generally property	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	occur	present	ay				at ay's end	generally, whereas property	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at end=Location

Option 4

«ay» is the American form and «ai» the British form of the same spelling

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	2 ay	punct
2	ay	ay	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 form	nsubj
3	»	»	PUNCT	_	2 ay	punct
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 form	cop
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 form	det
6	American	American	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 form	amod
7	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 ai	cc
9	«	«	PUNCT	_	10 ai	punct
10	ai	ai	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 form	conj
11	»	»	PUNCT	_	10 ai	punct
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 form	det
13	British	British	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 form	amod
14	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 form	nsubj
15	of	of	ADP	_	18 spelling	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 spelling	det
17	same	same	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 spelling	amod
18	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 form	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	ay	the American form and ai					tree rules
2	form			the same spelling					nom form «communication 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.

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