Exam question 1 · Spelling plurals: -s, -es, -ies, -ves and odd ones

Ascertain the correct plural form of a noun terminating in a consonant followed by the letter y.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, noun · What happens: ascertain, terminate, follow, form · To what, where: correct plural form, consonant, noun

This is exam question 1 of lesson 6 «Spelling plurals: -s, -es, -ies, -ves and odd ones» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 form	det
3	correct	correct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 form	amod
4	plural	plural	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 form	amod
5	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 noun	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 noun	det
8	noun	noun	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 form	nmod
9	terminating	terminate	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 noun	acl
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 consonant	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 consonant	det
12	consonant	consonant	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 terminating	obl
13	followed	follow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 consonant	acl
14	by	by	ADP	_	17 y	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 y	det
16	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 y	compound
17	y	y	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 followed	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the correct plural form of a noun			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent form=Topic
2	terminate	gerund	a noun not said here		a consonant		vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
3	follow	participle		a consonant not said here		by the letter y	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme by y=Location
4	form			a noun			nom form «communication 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 · ← Mova's choice

The y is doubled before the ending -es is appended

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 y	det
2	y	y	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 doubled	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 doubled	aux:pass
4	doubled	double	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	before	before	SCONJ	_	11 appended	mark
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 ending	det
7	ending	ending	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 appended	nsubj:pass
8	-	-	PUNCT	_	9 es	punct
9	es	e	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 ending	conj
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 appended	aux:pass
11	appended	append	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 doubled	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	double	present · passive		the y					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient
2	append	present · passive		the ending and es					tree rules

Option 2

The ending -s is appended without alteration of the word

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 -s	det
2	ending	ending	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 -s	compound
3	-s	-s	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 appended	nsubj:pass
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 appended	aux:pass
5	appended	append	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	without	without	ADP	_	7 alteration	case
7	alteration	alteration	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 appended	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 word	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 word	det
10	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 alteration	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	append	present · passive		the ending -s				without alteration of the word	tree rules
2	alter			the word					nom alteration «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The y is replaced by i and the ending -es is appended

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 y	det
2	y	y	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 replaced	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 replaced	aux:pass
4	replaced	replace	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 i	case
6	i	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	4 replaced	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 appended	cc
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 ending	det
9	ending	ending	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 appended	nsubj:pass
10	-	-	PUNCT	_	11 es	punct
11	es	e	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 ending	conj
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 appended	aux:pass
13	appended	append	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 replaced	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	replace	present · passive	i	the y					vn substitute-13.6.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme subject=Co-Theme
2	append	present · passive		the ending and es					tree rules

Option 4

The word remains unaltered in the plural

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 word	det
2	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 remains	nsubj
3	remains	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	unaltered	unaltered	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 remains	xcomp
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 plural	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 plural	det
7	plural	plural	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 remains	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	remain	present	the word			the plural		unaltered property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in plural=Location

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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