Exam question 3 · Spelling traps: their, there, they're and friends

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the rule "i before e except after c".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, rule

This is exam question 3 of lesson 12 «Spelling traps: their, there, they're and friends» of the language 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 rule	det
11	rule	rule	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 i	punct
13	i	i	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 rule	conj
14	before	before	ADP	_	15 e	case
15	e	e	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obl
16	except	except	ADP	_	18 c	case
17	after	after	ADP	_	18 c	case
18	c	c	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 e	obl
19	"	"	PUNCT	_	18 c	punct
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response		consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle					vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the rule and i	before e		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus rule=Experiencer

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 applies solely to words of Latin 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 applies	nsubj
2	applies	apply	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 applies	advmod
4	to	to	ADP	_	5 words	case
5	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 applies	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 origin	case
7	Latin	Latin	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 origin	amod
8	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 words	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	apply	present	It					to words of Latin origin; solely property	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	word			Latin origin					nom word «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It admits numerous exceptions, such as "science", "weird" and "their"

The tree, 10 words

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 admits	nsubj
2	admits	admit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	numerous	numerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 exceptions	amod
4	exceptions	exception	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 admits	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 science	punct
6	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	9 science	case
7	as	as	ADP	_	6 such	fixed
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 science	punct
9	science	science	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 exceptions	nmod
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 science	punct
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 weird	punct
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 weird	punct
13	weird	weird	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 admits	parataxis
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 weird	punct
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 their	cc
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	17 their	punct
17	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 admits	conj
18	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 admits	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	admit speech: other	present	It	numerous exceptions				such science	tree rules

Option 3

It admits no exceptions whatsoever

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 admits	nsubj
2	admits	admit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 exceptions	det
4	exceptions	exception	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 admits	obj
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	2 admits	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	admit speech: other	present	It	no exceptions				whatsoever property	vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent exception=Theme

Option 4

It was abolished by statute

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 abolished	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 abolished	aux:pass
3	abolished	abolish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 statute	case
5	statute	statute	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 abolished	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	abolish	past · passive	statute	It					vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent 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.

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