Exam question 1 · Silent letters and the mystery of -ough

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the majority of silent letters in English?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: majority

This is exam question 1 of lesson 13 «Silent letters and the mystery of -ough» 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	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 majority	det
10	majority	majority	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 letters	case
12	silent	silent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 letters	amod
13	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 majority	nmod
14	in	in	ADP	_	15 English	case
15	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 letters	nmod
16	?	?	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 majority of silent letters in English				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

They are pronounced in all formal registers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 pronounced	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 pronounced	aux:pass
3	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 registers	case
5	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 registers	det
6	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 registers	amod
7	registers	register	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 pronounced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pronounce	present · passive		They		all formal registers			vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: subject=Theme in register=Manner

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

They are vestiges of sounds formerly pronounced, retained in spelling after the sounds were lost

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 vestiges	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 vestiges	cop
3	vestiges	vestige	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 lost	nsubj:pass
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 sounds	case
5	sounds	sound	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 vestiges	acl:relcl
6	formerly	formerly	ADV	_	7 pronounced	advmod
7	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 vestiges	acl:relcl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 retained	punct
9	retained	retain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 vestiges	acl
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 spelling	case
11	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 retained	obl
12	after	after	ADP	_	14 sounds	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 sounds	det
14	sounds	sound	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 retained	obl
15	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	16 lost	aux:pass
16	lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	vestiges				tree rules
2	sound	present	vestiges not said here					vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus
3	pronounce	participle		vestiges not said here			formerly property	vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	retain	participle		vestiges not said here	spelling	after the sounds		tree rules
5	lose	past · passive		vestiges				vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality

Option 3

They are errors of contemporary printers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 errors	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 errors	cop
3	errors	error	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 printers	case
5	contemporary	contemporary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 printers	amod
6	printers	printer	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 errors	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	errors				of contemporary printers	tree rules

Option 4

They were introduced in order to render instruction more difficult

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 introduced	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 introduced	aux:pass
3	introduced	introduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	7 render	mark
5	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 in	fixed
6	to	to	PART	_	7 render	mark
7	render	render	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 introduced	advcl
8	instruction	instruction	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 render	obj
9	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	10 difficult	advmod
10	difficult	difficult	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 render	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	introduce	past · passive		They					vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	render	to-infinitive		instruction				difficult property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent instruction=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/language/13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough/e1/