Test 7 · ★ · Vowel teams, split digraphs and choosing the spelling

In a cartoon a bear says «I'm a beer!» because «ear» always says /ear/. What should the bear learn?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: bear, ear · What happens: say, be, learn · To what, where: cartoon, beer · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 7 · ★ 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: In a cartoon a bear says «I'm a beer!» because «ear» always says /ear/.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	In	in	ADP	_	3 cartoon	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 cartoon	det
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 says	obl
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 bear	det
5	bear	bear	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 says	nsubj
6	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	«	«	PUNCT	_	11 beer	punct
8	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	11 beer	nsubj
9	'm	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 beer	cop
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 beer	det
11	beer	beer	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 says	ccomp
12	!	!	PUNCT	_	11 beer	punct
13	»	»	PUNCT	_	11 beer	punct
14	because	because	SCONJ	_	19 says	mark
15	«	«	PUNCT	_	16 ear	punct
16	ear	ear	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 says	ccomp
17	»	»	PUNCT	_	16 ear	punct
18	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	19 says	advmod
19	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 says	advcl
20	/	/	PUNCT	_	21 ear	punct
21	ear	ear	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 says	obj
22	/	/	PUNCT	_	21 ear	punct
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	6 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	say speech: express	present	a bear		a cartoon		vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent in cartoon=Manner
2	is a in a quote	present	a bear = bear	a beer			tree rules
3	say speech: assert	present	ear			always property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent

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 should the bear learn?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	5 learn	obj
2	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 learn	aux
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 bear	det
4	bear	bear	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 learn	nsubj
5	learn	learn	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 learn	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	learn	should	the bear						vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic

The options

Option 1

«bear» should be spelled «bare» for the animal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	2 bear	punct
2	bear	bear	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 spelled	nsubj:pass
3	»	»	PUNCT	_	2 bear	punct
4	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 spelled	aux
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 spelled	aux:pass
6	spelled	spell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	«	«	PUNCT	_	8 bare	punct
8	bare	bare	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 spelled	xcomp
9	»	»	PUNCT	_	8 bare	punct
10	for	for	ADP	_	12 animal	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 animal	det
12	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 spelled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	spell	should · passive		bear				for the animal; bare property	vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme

Option 2

«ear» always says /ear/, so the cartoon is right

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	2 ear	punct
2	ear	ear	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 says	ccomp
3	»	»	PUNCT	_	2 ear	punct
4	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	5 says	advmod
5	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	/	/	PUNCT	_	7 ear	punct
7	ear	ear	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 says	obj
8	/	/	PUNCT	_	7 ear	punct
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 right	punct
10	so	so	ADV	_	14 right	advmod
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 cartoon	det
12	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 right	nsubj
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 right	cop
14	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 says	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	ear					always property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	is	present	the cartoon					right property	tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

«ear» says /air/ in «bear», «pear» and «wear»

The tree, 9 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	2 ear	punct
2	ear	ear	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 says	nsubj
3	»	»	PUNCT	_	2 ear	punct
4	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	/	/	PUNCT	_	6 air	punct
6	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 says	obj
7	/	/	SYM	_	10 bear	cc
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 bear	case
9	«	«	PUNCT	_	10 bear	punct
10	bear	bear	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 air	conj
11	»	»	PUNCT	_	6 air	punct
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 pear	punct
13	«	«	PUNCT	_	14 pear	punct
14	pear	pear	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 says	ccomp
15	»	»	PUNCT	_	14 pear	punct
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 wear	cc
17	«	«	PUNCT	_	18 wear	punct
18	wear	wear	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 pear	conj
19	»	»	PUNCT	_	14 pear	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	ear	air / bear					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent air=Topic

Option 4

«bear» and «beer» are the same word

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	2 bear	punct
2	bear	bear	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 word	nsubj
3	»	»	PUNCT	_	2 bear	punct
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 beer	cc
5	«	«	PUNCT	_	6 beer	punct
6	beer	beer	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 bear	conj
7	»	»	PUNCT	_	2 bear	punct
8	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 word	cop
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 word	det
10	same	same	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 word	amod
11	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	bear and beer	the same word					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.

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