Exam question 1 · Silent letters: why French doesn't say everything it writes

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the treatment of final consonants in French?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, treat · To what, where: treatment, final consonants

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1 «Silent letters: why French doesn't say everything it writes» of the French 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 treatment	det
10	treatment	treatment	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 consonants	case
12	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 consonants	amod
13	consonants	consonant	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 treatment	nmod
14	in	in	ADP	_	15 French	case
15	French	French	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 consonants	nmod
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the treatment of final consonants in French	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	treat		final consonants in French		nom treatment «act 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 · ← Mova's choice

Terminal consonants are pronounced solely in the names of persons and places

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Terminal	terminal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 consonants	amod
2	consonants	consonant	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 pronounced	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 pronounced	aux:pass
4	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	solely	solely	ADV	_	4 pronounced	advmod
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 names	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 names	det
8	names	name	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 pronounced	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 persons	case
10	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 names	nmod
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 places	cc
12	places	place	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 persons	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pronounce	present · passive		Terminal consonants		the names of persons and places		solely property	vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: subject=Theme in name=Manner
2	name			persons and places					nom name «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

Every terminal consonant is to be pronounced with particular force and clarity

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	3 consonant	det
2	terminal	terminal	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 consonant	compound
3	consonant	consonant	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 pronounced	nsubj:pass
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 pronounced	aux
5	to	to	PART	_	7 pronounced	mark
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 pronounced	aux:pass
7	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	with	with	ADP	_	10 force	case
9	particular	particular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 force	amod
10	force	force	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 pronounced	obl
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 clarity	cc
12	clarity	clarity	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 force	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pronounce	present · passive		every terminal consonant				with particular force and clarity	vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: subject=Theme with force=Manner

Option 3

Terminal consonants are omitted in writing as well as in speech

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Terminal	terminal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 consonants	amod
2	consonants	consonant	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 omitted	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 omitted	aux:pass
4	omitted	omit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 writing	case
6	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 omitted	obl
7	as	as	ADV	ExtPos=ADV	4 omitted	advmod
8	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	7 as	fixed
9	as	as	ADP	_	7 as	fixed
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 speech	case
11	speech	speech	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 omitted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	omit	present · passive		Terminal consonants		writing		in speech	vn exclude-107.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The consonants s, t, d, x and z, when terminal, are customarily left unpronounced

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 consonants	det
2	consonants	consonant	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 t	nmod:poss
3	s	's	PART	Typo=Yes	2 consonants	case
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 t	punct
5	t	t	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 left	nsubj:pass
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 d	punct
7	d	D	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 t	conj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 x	punct
9	x	x	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 t	conj
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 z	cc
11	z	z	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 x	conj
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 terminal	punct
13	when	when	SCONJ	_	14 terminal	mark
14	terminal	terminal	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 x	conj
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 t	punct
16	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	18 left	aux:pass
17	customarily	customarily	ADV	_	18 left	advmod
18	left	leave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
19	unpronounced	unpronounced	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 left	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	leave	present · passive		the consonants's t and d and x and z and terminal				customarily, unpronounced property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

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/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/e1/