Exam question 3 · Spelling plurals: -s, -es, -ies, -ves and odd ones

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the use of the apostrophe in plural nouns.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, use · To what, where: response, use, apostrophe

This is exam question 3 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	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	11 use	det
11	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 apostrophe	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 apostrophe	det
14	apostrophe	apostrophe	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 use	nmod
15	in	in	ADP	_	17 nouns	case
16	plural	plural	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 nouns	amod
17	nouns	noun	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 apostrophe	nmod
18	.	.	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 use of the apostrophe in plural nouns		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus use=Experiencer
4	use			the apostrophe in plural nouns		nom use «act 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

The apostrophe is required in every plural noun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 apostrophe	det
2	apostrophe	apostrophe	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 required	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 required	aux:pass
4	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	8 noun	case
6	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	8 noun	det
7	plural	plural	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 noun	amod
8	noun	noun	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 required	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	present · passive		the apostrophe		every plural noun			vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Precondition

Option 2

The apostrophe is required in plural nouns which terminate in s

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 apostrophe	det
2	apostrophe	apostrophe	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 required	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 required	aux:pass
4	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 nouns	case
6	plural	plural	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 nouns	amod
7	nouns	noun	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 required	obl:agent
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 terminate	nsubj
9	terminate	terminate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 nouns	acl:relcl
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 s	case
11	s	s	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 terminate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	present · passive	plural nouns	the apostrophe					vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme subject=Precondition
2	terminate	present	plural nouns			s			vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

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

The apostrophe is not employed in order to form the plural of a noun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 apostrophe	det
2	apostrophe	apostrophe	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 employed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 employed	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 employed	advmod
5	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 order	case
7	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 employed	obl
8	to	to	PART	_	9 form	mark
9	form	form	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 employed	advcl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 plural	det
11	plural	plural	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 form	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 noun	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 noun	det
14	noun	noun	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 plural	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not employ	present · passive		the apostrophe		order			vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	form	to-infinitive		the plural of a noun					vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location plural=Theme

Option 4

The apostrophe is required in plurals displayed upon shop signs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 apostrophe	det
2	apostrophe	apostrophe	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 required	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 required	aux:pass
4	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	SCONJ	_	7 displayed	mark
6	plurals	plural	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 displayed	nsubj
7	displayed	display	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 required	advcl
8	upon	upon	ADP	_	10 signs	case
9	shop	shop	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 signs	compound
10	signs	sign	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 displayed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	present · passive		the apostrophe					vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Precondition
2	display	past	plurals					upon shop signs	vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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/e3/