Test 12 · Silent letters: why French doesn't say everything it writes
★★★ Using the end-letter rules, which list has a sound at the end of EVERY word?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: ★ ★ ★, list · What happens: use, have · To what, where: letter rules, sound, end
This is test 12 of lesson 1 «Silent letters: why French doesn't say everything it writes» of the French course of Mova's primary school. 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 | ★ | ★ | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 ★ | compound |
| 2 | ★ | ★ | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 ★ | compound |
| 3 | ★ | ★ | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | Using | use | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 3 ★ | acl |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 rules | det |
| 6 | end | end | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 letter | compound |
| 7 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 6 end | punct |
| 8 | letter | letter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 rules | compound |
| 9 | rules | rule | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 Using | obj |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 has | punct |
| 11 | which | which | DET | PronType=Int | 12 list | det |
| 12 | list | list | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 has | nsubj |
| 13 | has | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 rules | acl:relcl |
| 14 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 15 sound | det |
| 15 | sound | sound | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 has | obj |
| 16 | at | at | ADP | _ | 18 end | case |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 end | det |
| 18 | end | end | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 sound | nmod |
| 19 | of | of | ADP | _ | 21 word | case |
| 20 | EVERY | every | DET | PronType=Tot | 21 word | det |
| 21 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 end | nmod |
| 22 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 3 ★ | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | use | gerund | ★ ★ ★ not said here | the letter rules | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rule=Patient | ||||
| 2 | have | present | which list | a sound | at the end of every word | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sound=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
sac, petit, neuf, avril
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | sac | sac | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 petit | punct |
| 3 | petit | petit | X | Foreign=Yes | 1 sac | conj |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 neuf | punct |
| 5 | neuf | neuf | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 sac | conj |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 avril | punct |
| 7 | avril | avril | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 sac | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 2
Paris, neuf, avril, bonjour
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paris | Paris | PROPN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 neuf | punct |
| 3 | neuf | neuf | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Paris | conj |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 avril | punct |
| 5 | avril | avril | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Paris | parataxis |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 bonjour | punct |
| 7 | bonjour | bonjour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Paris | list |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
sac, neuf, avril, bonjour
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | sac | sac | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 neuf | punct |
| 3 | neuf | neuf | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 sac | conj |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 avril | punct |
| 5 | avril | avril | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 sac | conj |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 bonjour | punct |
| 7 | bonjour | bonjour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 sac | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4
et, sac, neuf, bonjour
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | et | et | X | Foreign=Yes | 3 sac | amod |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 sac | punct |
| 3 | sac | sac | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 neuf | punct |
| 5 | neuf | neuf | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 sac | conj |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 bonjour | punct |
| 7 | bonjour | bonjour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 sac | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
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/t12/