Exam question 1 · Adding -ed and -ing: doubling and dropping e
Ascertain the correct procedure when the ending -ing is appended to a word terminating in a silent e.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, word · What happens: ascertain, append, terminate · To what, where: correct procedure, ending ing, silent e.
This is exam question 1 of lesson 7 «Adding -ed and -ing: doubling and dropping e» 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 | 4 procedure | det |
| 3 | correct | correct | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 procedure | amod |
| 4 | procedure | procedure | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Ascertain | obj |
| 5 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 11 appended | advmod |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 ing | det |
| 7 | ending | ending | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 ing | compound |
| 8 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 9 ing | punct |
| 9 | ing | ing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 appended | nsubj:pass |
| 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 | 1 Ascertain | advcl |
| 12 | to | to | ADP | _ | 14 word | case |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 14 word | det |
| 14 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 appended | obl |
| 15 | terminating | terminate | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 14 word | acl |
| 16 | in | in | ADP | _ | 19 e. | case |
| 17 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 19 e. | det |
| 18 | silent | silent | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 19 e. | amod |
| 19 | e. | E. | PROPN | Number=Sing | 15 terminating | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ascertain | imperative | you not said here | the correct procedure | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent procedure=Topic | ||||
| 2 | append | present · passive | the ending ing | to a word | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | terminate | gerund | a word not said here | a silent e. | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
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 right answer
The silent e is omitted before the ending is appended
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 e | det |
| 2 | silent | silent | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 e | amod |
| 3 | e | e | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 omitted | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 omitted | aux:pass |
| 5 | omitted | omit | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 10 appended | mark |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 ending | det |
| 8 | ending | ending | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 appended | nsubj:pass |
| 9 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 appended | aux:pass |
| 10 | appended | append | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 omitted | advcl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | omit | present · passive | the silent e | vn exclude-107.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 2 | append | present · passive | the ending | tree rules |
Option 2
The silent e is doubled before the ending is appended
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 e | det |
| 2 | silent | silent | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 e | amod |
| 3 | e | e | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 doubled | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 doubled | aux:pass |
| 5 | doubled | double | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 10 appended | mark |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 ending | det |
| 8 | ending | ending | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 appended | nsubj:pass |
| 9 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 appended | aux:pass |
| 10 | appended | append | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 doubled | advcl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | double | present · passive | the silent e | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient | |||||
| 2 | append | present · passive | the ending | tree rules |
Option 3
The ending -ing is replaced by -eing
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 ing | det |
| 2 | ending | ending | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 ing | compound |
| 3 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 4 ing | punct |
| 4 | ing | ing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 replaced | nsubj:pass |
| 5 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 replaced | aux:pass |
| 6 | replaced | replace | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 7 | by | by | ADP | _ | 9 eing | case |
| 8 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 7 by | punct |
| 9 | eing | eing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 replaced | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | replace | present · passive | eing | the ending ing | vn substitute-13.6.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme subject=Co-Theme |
Option 4
The silent e is retained and the ending appended unaltered
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 e | det |
| 2 | silent | silent | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 e | amod |
| 3 | e | e | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 retained | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 retained | aux:pass |
| 5 | retained | retain | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 appended | cc |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 ending | det |
| 8 | ending | ending | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 appended | nsubj |
| 9 | appended | append | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 retained | conj |
| 10 | unaltered | unaltered | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 appended | xcomp |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | retain | present · passive | the silent e | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | append | past | the ending | unaltered property | 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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/7-adding-ed-and-ing-doubling-and-dropping-e/e1/