Exam question 2 · Spelling plurals: -s, -es, -ies, -ves and odd ones

Identify the principal reason for which nouns terminating in s, x, z, ch or sh take the ending -es.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, nouns · What happens: identify, terminate, take · To what, where: principal reason, s, ending es

This is exam question 2 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	7 nouns	det
7	nouns	noun	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 take	nsubj
8	terminating	terminate	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 nouns	acl
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 s	case
10	s	s	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 terminating	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 x	punct
12	x	x	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 nouns	conj
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 z	punct
14	z	z	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 x	conj
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 ch	punct
16	ch	ch	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 nouns	conj
17	or	or	CCONJ	_	18 sh	cc
18	sh	sh	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 ch	conj
19	take	take	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 es	det
21	ending	ending	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 es	compound
22	-	-	PUNCT	_	21 ending	punct
23	es	e	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 take	obj
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	terminate	gerund	which nouns and x and z and ch or sh not said here		s	vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
3	take	present	which nouns and x and z and ch or sh	the ending es		vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent e=Theme

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

Such nouns are always verbs in disguise

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 nouns	amod
2	nouns	noun	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 verbs	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 verbs	cop
4	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	5 verbs	advmod
5	verbs	verb	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 disguise	case
7	disguise	disguise	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 verbs	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Such nouns	verbs		disguise		always property	tree rules

Option 2

Such nouns are invariably of French origin and retain the French manner of forming the plural

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 nouns	amod
2	nouns	noun	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 origin	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 origin	cop
4	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	7 origin	advmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 origin	case
6	French	French	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 origin	amod
7	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 retain	cc
9	retain	retain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 origin	conj
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 manner	det
11	French	French	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 manner	amod
12	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 retain	obj
13	of	of	SCONJ	_	14 forming	mark
14	forming	form	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 manner	acl
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 plural	det
16	plural	plural	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 forming	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	Such nouns		of French origin; invariably property	tree rules
2	retain	present	Such nouns not said here	the French manner		tree rules
3	form	gerund	the French manner not said here	the plural		vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location plural=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The plural thereby acquires an additional syllable which is audible in speech

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 plural	det
2	plural	plural	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 acquires	nsubj
3	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	4 acquires	advmod
4	acquires	acquire	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 syllable	det
6	additional	additional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 syllable	amod
7	syllable	syllable	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 acquires	obj
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 audible	nsubj
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 audible	cop
10	audible	audible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 syllable	acl:relcl
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 speech	case
12	speech	speech	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 audible	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	acquire	present	the plural	a additional syllable				thereby property	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset syllable=Theme
2	is	present	a additional syllable			speech		audible property	tree rules

Option 4

The ending -es denotes possession in such nouns

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 ending	det
2	ending	ending	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 denotes	nsubj
3	-	-	PUNCT	_	4 es	punct
4	es	e	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 ending	conj
5	denotes	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	possession	possession	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 denotes	obj
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 nouns	case
8	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 nouns	amod
9	nouns	noun	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 denotes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	present	the ending and es	possession				in such nouns	vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot possession=Theme in noun=Attribute

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/6-spelling-plurals/e2/