Exam question 1 · Endings that sound like «shun»: -tion, -sion, -ssion, -cian

Identify the principal means by which the correct spelling of the ending pronounced /shun/ may be determined.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, principal, correct spelling · What happens: identify, mean, pronounce, determine, spell · To what, where: shun, ending · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 1 of lesson 8 «Endings that sound like «shun»: -tion, -sion, -ssion, -cian» 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	3 principal	det
3	principal	principal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 means	nsubj
4	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	ccomp
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	19 determined	obj
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 spelling	det
8	correct	correct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 spelling	amod
9	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 pronounced	nsubj
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 ending	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 ending	det
12	ending	ending	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 spelling	nmod
13	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 which	acl:relcl
14	/	/	PUNCT	_	15 shun	punct
15	shun	shun	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 pronounced	obj
16	/	/	PUNCT	_	15 shun	punct
17	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	19 determined	aux
18	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	19 determined	aux:pass
19	determined	determine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 means	ccomp
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	mean	present	the principal		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	pronounce	past	the correct spelling of the ending	shun	vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shun=Theme
4	determine	may · passive			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: which=Topic
5	spell			the ending	nom spelling «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

By reference to the first letter of the word

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	2 reference	case
2	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	6 letter	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 letter	det
5	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	6 letter	amod
6	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reference	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 word	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 word	det
9	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 letter	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	letter			the word					nom letter «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

By reference to the country in which the word is written

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	2 reference	case
2	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 country	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 country	det
5	country	country	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reference	nmod
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 which	case
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 written	obl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 word	det
9	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 written	nsubj:pass
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 written	aux:pass
11	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 country	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	write	present · passive		the word		the country			vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in which=Destination

Option 3

By reference to the length of the word in letters and the number of its syllables

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	2 reference	case
2	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 length	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 length	det
5	length	length	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reference	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 word	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 word	det
8	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 length	nmod
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 letters	case
10	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 word	nmod
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 number	cc
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 number	det
13	number	number	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 length	conj
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 syllables	case
15	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 syllables	nmod:poss
16	syllables	syllable	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 number	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

By reference to the ending of the root word from which the word is formed

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	2 reference	case
2	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 ending	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 ending	det
5	ending	ending	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reference	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 word	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 word	det
8	root	root	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 word	compound
9	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 ending	nmod
10	from	from	ADP	_	11 which	case
11	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 formed	obl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 word	det
13	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 formed	nsubj:pass
14	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 formed	aux:pass
15	formed	form	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 word	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	form	present · passive		the word		the root word			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: subject=Result from which=Material
2	end			the root word					nom ending «communication 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/e1/