Exam question 4 · Vowel teams, split digraphs and choosing the spelling

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the letter y.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, letter y

This is exam question 4 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 y	det
11	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 y	compound
12	y	y	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the letter y		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus y=Experiencer

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

It is never pronounced and serves merely to mark the end of a 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	4 pronounced	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 pronounced	aux:pass
3	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	4 pronounced	advmod
4	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 mark	cc
6	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 mark	aux
7	merely	merely	ADV	_	9 mark	advmod
8	to	to	PART	_	9 mark	mark
9	mark	mark	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 pronounced	conj
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 end	det
11	end	end	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 mark	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 word	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 word	det
14	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 end	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not pronounce	present · passive		It					vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	mark	present		the end of a word				merely property	vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent end=Destination

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It functions as a vowel exclusively in words borrowed from Greek

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 functions	nsubj
2	functions	function	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	as	as	ADP	_	5 vowel	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 vowel	det
5	vowel	vowel	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 functions	obl
6	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 functions	advmod
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 words	case
8	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 functions	obl
9	borrowed	borrow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 words	acl
10	from	from	ADP	_	11 Greek	case
11	Greek	Greek	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 borrowed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	function	present	It			words		as a vowel; exclusively property	vn masquerade-29.6 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as vowel=Attribute
2	borrow	participle		words not said here		Greek			vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent from greek=Source

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It functions as a consonant at the beginning of certain words and as a vowel elsewhere

The tree, 16 words

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 functions	nsubj
2	functions	function	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	as	as	ADP	_	5 consonant	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 consonant	det
5	consonant	consonant	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 functions	obl
6	at	at	ADP	_	8 beginning	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 beginning	det
8	beginning	beginning	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 functions	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 words	case
10	certain	certain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 words	amod
11	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 beginning	nmod
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 vowel	cc
13	as	as	ADP	_	15 vowel	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 vowel	det
15	vowel	vowel	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 words	conj
16	elsewhere	elsewhere	ADV	_	2 functions	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	function	present	It				at the beginning of certain words and a vowel	as a consonant; elsewhere property	vn masquerade-29.6 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as consonant=Attribute
2	begin			certain words and a vowel					nom beginning «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

It functions invariably as a consonant in all words of the language

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 functions	nsubj
2	functions	function	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	2 functions	advmod
4	as	as	ADP	_	6 consonant	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 consonant	det
6	consonant	consonant	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 functions	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 words	case
8	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	9 words	det
9	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 functions	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 language	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 language	det
12	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 words	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	function	present	It			all words of the language		as a consonant; invariably property	vn masquerade-29.6 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as consonant=Attribute
2	word			the language					nom word «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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/4-vowel-teams-split-digraphs-and-choosing-the-spelling/e4/