Exam question 2 · Suffixes -ous, -ly, -ful, -less, -ness, -ment

Identify the principal reason for which the final e is retained in the word «changeable».

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, retain · To what, where: principal reason, final e, word

This is exam question 2 of lesson 9 «Suffixes -ous, -ly, -ful, -less, -ness, -ment» 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	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 retained	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 e	det
8	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 e	amod
9	e	e	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 retained	nsubj:pass
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 retained	aux:pass
11	retained	retain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 word	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 word	det
14	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 retained	obl
15	«	«	PUNCT	_	16 changeable	punct
16	changeable	changeable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 word	appos
17	»	»	PUNCT	_	16 changeable	punct
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	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	retain	present · passive		the final e		the word		for the principal reason	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

It distinguishes the adjective from a verb of the same form

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 distinguishes	nsubj
2	distinguishes	distinguish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 adjective	det
4	adjective	adjective	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 distinguishes	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 verb	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 verb	det
7	verb	verb	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 distinguishes	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 form	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 form	det
10	same	same	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 form	amod
11	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 verb	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	distinguish	present	It	the adjective				from a verb of the same form	vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent adjective=Theme from verb=Co-Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It is retained in every word ending in -able

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 retained	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 retained	aux:pass
3	retained	retain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 word	case
5	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	6 word	det
6	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 retained	obl
7	ending	end	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 word	acl
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 able	case
9	-	-	PUNCT	_	8 in	punct
10	able	able	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 ending	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retain	present · passive		It		every word			tree rules
2	end	gerund	every word not said here			able			vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

Option 3

It indicates that the word is of French origin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 indicates	nsubj
2	indicates	indicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 origin	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 word	det
5	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 origin	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 origin	cop
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 origin	case
8	French	French	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 origin	amod
9	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 indicates	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	indicate	present	It						vn indicate-78-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot
2	is	present	the word					of French origin	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It preserves the soft pronunciation of the letter g

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 preserves	nsubj
2	preserves	preserve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 pronunciation	det
4	soft	soft	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 pronunciation	amod
5	pronunciation	pronunciation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 preserves	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 g	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 g	det
8	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 g	compound
9	g	G	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 pronunciation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	preserve	present	It	the soft pronunciation of the letter g					vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pronunciation=Beneficiary
2	pronounce			the letter g					nom pronunciation «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.

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