Exam question 2 · Accents: é, è, ê, ç and friends

Identify the function of the cédille when placed beneath the letter c before a, o or u.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, place · To what, where: function

This is exam question 2 of lesson 3 «Accents: é, è, ê, ç and friends» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 function	det
3	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 cédille	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 cédille	det
6	cédille	cédille	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 function	nmod
7	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	8 placed	advmod
8	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Identify	advcl
9	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	12 c	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 c	det
11	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 c	compound
12	c	c	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obl
13	before	before	ADP	_	16 o	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 o	det
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 o	punct
16	o	o	NOUN	_	1 Identify	obl
17	or	or	CCONJ	_	18 u.	cc
18	u.	U.	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 o	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the function of the cédille			before a o or u.	beneath the letter c	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent function=Theme
2	place	participle	you not said here						vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent

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 renders the letter wholly silent

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 renders	nsubj
2	renders	render	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 letter	det
4	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 renders	obj
5	wholly	wholly	ADV	_	6 silent	advmod
6	silent	silent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 letter	amod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	present	It	the letter					vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent letter=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It causes the letter to be pronounced as "k"

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 causes	nsubj
2	causes	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 letter	det
4	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 causes	obj
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	4 letter	acl
8	as	as	ADP	_	10 k	case
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 k	punct
10	k	k	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 pronounced	obl
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 k	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cause	present	It	the letter					vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition letter=Patient
2	pronounce	to-infinitive · passive		the letter not said here				as k	vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It causes the letter to be pronounced as "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 causes	nsubj
2	causes	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 letter	det
4	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 causes	obj
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	4 letter	acl
8	as	as	ADP	_	10 s	case
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 s	punct
10	s	s	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 pronounced	obl
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 s	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cause	present	It	the letter					vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition letter=Patient
2	pronounce	to-infinitive · passive		the letter not said here				as s	vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»

Option 4

It causes the letter to be doubled

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 causes	nsubj
2	causes	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 letter	det
4	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 causes	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	7 doubled	mark
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 doubled	aux:pass
7	doubled	double	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 letter	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cause	present	It	the letter					vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition letter=Patient
2	double	to-infinitive · passive		the letter not said here					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»

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/3-accents-e-e-e-c-and-friends/e2/