Exam question 3 · Silent letters and the mystery of -ough

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the word "Wednesday".

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, word

This is exam question 3 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	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 word	det
11	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 Wednesday	punct
13	Wednesday	Wednesday	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 word	appos
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 Wednesday	punct
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	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 word		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus word=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 derives from a French word meaning the middle of the week

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 derives	nsubj
2	derives	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	6 word	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 word	det
5	French	French	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 word	amod
6	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 derives	obl
7	meaning	mean	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 word	acl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 middle	det
9	middle	middle	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 meaning	obj
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 week	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 week	det
12	week	week	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 middle	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	derive	present	It			a French word			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent from word=Material
2	mean	gerund	a French word not said here	the middle of the week					vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent middle=Topic

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It derives from "Woden's day", the silent "d" reflecting its origin

The tree, 12 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 derives	nsubj
2	derives	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	7 day	case
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 day	punct
5	Woden	Woden	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 day	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 Woden	case
7	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 derives	obl
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 day	punct
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 d	punct
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 d	det
11	silent	silent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 d	amod
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 d	punct
13	d	D	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 day	parataxis
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 d	punct
15	reflecting	reflect	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	13 d	acl
16	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 origin	nmod:poss
17	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 reflecting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	derive	present	It				day		vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	reflect	gerund	the silent d not said here	d's origin					tree rules

Option 3

The "d" is pronounced in standard British English

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 d	det
2	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 d	punct
3	d	D	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 pronounced	nsubj:pass
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 d	punct
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 pronounced	aux:pass
6	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	in	in	ADP	_	10 English	case
8	standard	standard	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 English	amod
9	British	British	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 English	amod
10	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 pronounced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pronounce	present · passive		the d		standard British English			vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: subject=Theme in english=Manner

Option 4

Its spelling is the result of a recent error

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 spelling	nmod:poss
2	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 result	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 result	cop
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 result	det
5	result	result	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 error	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 error	det
8	recent	recent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 error	amod
9	error	error	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 result	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Its spelling	the result				of a recent error	tree rules
2	spell		Its = it						nom spelling «communication transitive»: poss=agent

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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