Test 6 · ★ · Vowel teams, split digraphs and choosing the spelling

«y's a consonant, it's in the alphabet with the consonants, no way it's a vowel». What is the fair reply?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: y, consonant, way, fair reply · What happens: be · To what, where: consonant, alphabet, vowel

This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 4 «Vowel teams, split digraphs and choosing the spelling» of the English course of Mova's primary school. 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

Sentence 1: «y's a consonant, it's in the alphabet with the consonants, no way it's a vowel».

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	5 consonant	punct
2	y	y	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	5 consonant	nsubj
3	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 consonant	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 consonant	det
5	consonant	consonant	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 alphabet	punct
7	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 alphabet	nsubj
8	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 alphabet	cop
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 alphabet	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 alphabet	det
11	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 consonant	appos
12	with	with	ADP	_	14 consonants	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 consonants	det
14	consonants	consonant	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 alphabet	nmod
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	21 vowel	punct
16	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	17 way	det
17	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 vowel	nsubj
18	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	21 vowel	nsubj
19	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	21 vowel	cop
20	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	21 vowel	det
21	vowel	vowel	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 consonant	appos
22	»	»	PUNCT	_	21 vowel	punct
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 consonant	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is a in a quote	present	y	a consonant			tree rules
2	is in a quote	present	consonant		the alphabet	with the consonants	tree rules
3	is a in a quote	present	no way	a vowel			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.

Sentence 2: What is the fair reply?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	root	root
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 What	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 reply	det
4	fair	fair	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 reply	amod
5	reply	reply	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	nsubj
6	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 What	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the fair reply						tree rules

The options

Option 1 · ✓ the right answer

At the start of «yes» it is, but in «my» and «happy» it works as a vowel

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	At	at	ADP	_	3 start	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 start	det
3	start	start	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 is	obl
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 yes	case
5	«	«	PUNCT	_	6 yes	punct
6	yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	9 is	discourse
7	»	»	PUNCT	_	6 yes	punct
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 is	nsubj
9	is	be	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	21 works	ccomp
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 happy	punct
11	but	but	CCONJ	_	18 happy	cc
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 my	case
13	«	«	PUNCT	_	14 my	punct
14	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 happy	nmod:poss
15	»	»	PUNCT	_	14 my	punct
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 happy	cc
17	«	«	PUNCT	_	18 happy	punct
18	happy	happy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 is	parataxis
19	»	»	PUNCT	_	18 happy	punct
20	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	21 works	nsubj
21	works	work	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
22	as	as	ADP	_	24 vowel	case
23	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	24 vowel	det
24	vowel	vowel	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 works	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	be	present	start			the start			tree rules
2	work	present	start					as a vowel	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality

Option 2

Y is neither, it is a silent letter in every word it appears in, even «yes»

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Y	y	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 letter	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 letter	cop
3	neither	neither	ADV	_	9 letter	advmod
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 neither	punct
5	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 letter	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 letter	cop
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 letter	det
8	silent	silent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 letter	amod
9	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 word	case
11	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	12 word	det
12	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 letter	nmod
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 appears	nsubj
14	appears	appear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 word	acl:relcl
15	in	in	ADV	_	14 appears	advmod
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 yes	punct
17	even	even	ADV	_	19 yes	advmod
18	«	«	PUNCT	_	19 yes	punct
19	yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	9 letter	discourse
20	»	»	PUNCT	_	19 yes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Y	a silent letter		every word		neither property	tree rules
2	appear	present	it	every word not said here					vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location word=Theme

Option 3

Y is only ever a vowel, it just looks like a consonant

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Y	y	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 vowel	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 vowel	cop
3	only	only	ADV	_	6 vowel	advmod
4	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	6 vowel	advmod
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 vowel	det
6	vowel	vowel	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 looks	punct
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 looks	nsubj
9	just	just	ADV	_	10 looks	advmod
10	looks	look	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 vowel	conj
11	like	like	ADP	_	13 consonant	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 consonant	det
13	consonant	consonant	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 looks	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Y	a vowel			ever		tree rules
2	look	present	Y					like a consonant	vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

She is right, y is only ever a consonant

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 right	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 right	cop
3	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 consonant	punct
5	y	y	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 consonant	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 consonant	cop
7	only	only	ADV	_	10 consonant	advmod
8	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	10 consonant	advmod
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 consonant	det
10	consonant	consonant	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 right	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	She					right property	tree rules
2	is a	present	y	a consonant			ever		tree rules

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/t6/