Exam question 4 · Spelling plurals: -s, -es, -ies, -ves and odd ones

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the plural of «sheep»?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: plural

This is exam question 4 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 plural	det
10	plural	plural	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 sheep	case
12	«	«	PUNCT	_	13 sheep	punct
13	sheep	sheep	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 plural	nmod
14	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 sheep	punct
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the plural of sheep				of the following statements; accurately property	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.

The options

Option 1

The plural is formed by the addition of -en

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 formed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 formed	aux:pass
4	formed	form	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 addition	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 addition	det
7	addition	addition	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 formed	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 en	case
9	-	-	PUNCT	_	8 of	punct
10	en	en	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 addition	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	form	present · passive	the addition of en	the plural					vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location subject=Theme

Option 2

The plural is formed by the addition of -s

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 formed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 formed	aux:pass
4	formed	form	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 addition	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 addition	det
7	addition	addition	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 formed	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 -s	case
9	-s	-	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 addition	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	form	present · passive	the addition of -s	the plural					vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location subject=Theme

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

The plural is identical in form to the singular

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 identical	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 identical	cop
4	identical	identical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 form	case
6	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 identical	obl
7	to	to	ADP	_	9 singular	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 singular	det
9	singular	singular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 identical	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the plural			form		to the singular; identical property	tree rules

Option 4

The plural is formed by the alteration of the vowel

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 formed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 formed	aux:pass
4	formed	form	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 alteration	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 alteration	det
7	alteration	alteration	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 formed	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 vowel	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 vowel	det
10	vowel	vowel	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 alteration	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	form	present · passive	the alteration of the vowel	the plural					vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location subject=Theme
2	alter			the vowel					nom alteration «event transitive»: of=patient

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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