Exam question 4 · Suffixes -ous, -ly, -ful, -less, -ness, -ment

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the suffix -less in the word «useless»?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: suffix

This is exam question 4 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	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 suffix	det
10	suffix	suffix	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	-	-	PUNCT	_	12 less	punct
12	less	less	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	10 suffix	amod
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 word	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 word	det
15	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 less	obl
16	«	«	PUNCT	_	17 useless	punct
17	useless	useless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 word	appos
18	»	»	PUNCT	_	17 useless	punct
19	?	?	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 suffix				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 · ← Mova's choice

It signifies «again» and requires the doubling of the s

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 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	«	«	PUNCT	_	4 again	punct
4	again	again	ADV	_	2 signifies	advmod
5	»	»	PUNCT	_	4 again	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 requires	cc
7	requires	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 signifies	conj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 doubling	det
9	doubling	doubling	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 requires	obj
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 s	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 s	det
12	s	s	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 doubling	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	signify	present	It		again	vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot
2	require	present		the doubling of the s		vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme doubling=Precondition
3	double			the s		nom doubling «process transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

It signifies «full of» and requires the omission of the final e

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 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	«	«	PUNCT	_	4 full	punct
4	full	full	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 signifies	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	4 full	obl
6	»	»	PUNCT	_	4 full	punct
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 requires	cc
8	requires	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 signifies	conj
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 omission	det
10	omission	omission	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 requires	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 e	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 e	det
13	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 e	amod
14	e	e	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 omission	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	signify	present	It	full	vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot full=Theme
2	require	present		the omission of the final e	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme omission=Precondition
3	omit			the final e	nom omission «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It signifies «without» and is appended without alteration of the root

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 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	«	«	PUNCT	_	4 without	punct
4	without	without	ADP	_	2 signifies	obl
5	»	»	PUNCT	_	4 without	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 appended	cc
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 appended	aux:pass
8	appended	append	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 signifies	conj
9	without	without	ADP	_	10 alteration	case
10	alteration	alteration	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 appended	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 root	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 root	det
13	root	root	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 alteration	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	signify	present	It			vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot
2	append	present · passive			without alteration of the root	tree rules
3	alter			the root		nom alteration «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

It signifies «before» and is placed at the beginning of the word

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 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	«	«	PUNCT	_	4 before	punct
4	before	before	SCONJ	_	2 signifies	advmod
5	»	»	PUNCT	_	4 before	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 placed	cc
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 placed	aux:pass
8	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 signifies	conj
9	at	at	ADP	_	11 beginning	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 beginning	det
11	beginning	beginning	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 placed	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 word	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 word	det
14	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 beginning	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	signify	present	It			vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot
2	place	present · passive			at the beginning of the word	vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: at beginning=Destination
3	begin			the word		nom beginning «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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