Exam question 1 · Is there one proper English? The big arguments

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the process of change in the English language?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, process · To what, where: process, English language, change

This is exam question 1 of lesson 20 «Is there one proper English? The big arguments» 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 process	det
10	process	process	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 change	case
12	change	change	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 process	nmod
13	in	in	ADP	_	16 language	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 language	det
15	English	English	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 language	amod
16	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the process of change	the English language	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	process		change			nom process «act transitive»: of=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

A complete cessation of change since 1712

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 cessation	det
2	complete	complete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 cessation	amod
3	cessation	cessation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 change	case
5	change	change	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cessation	nmod
6	since	since	ADP	_	7 1712	case
7	1712	1712	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	3 cessation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cease			change					nom cessation «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

Alteration directed annually by royal command

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Alteration	alteration	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	directed	direct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Alteration	acl
3	annually	annually	ADV	_	2 directed	advmod
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 command	case
5	royal	royal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 command	amod
6	command	command	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 directed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	direct	participle		Alteration not said here				by royal command; annually property	vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.predicate»: agent=Agent by command=Eventuality

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Continuous alteration, which does not in itself constitute deterioration

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Continuous	continuous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 alteration	amod
2	alteration	alteration	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 constitute	nsubj
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 does	punct
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 does	nsubj
5	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 constitute	advcl
6	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 does	advmod
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 itself	case
8	itself	itself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	5 does	obl
9	constitute	constitute	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
10	deterioration	deterioration	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 constitute	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not do	present						in alteration	vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	constitute	infinitive	Continuous alteration	deterioration					vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme deterioration=Pivot

Option 4

A steady decline toward eventual unintelligibility within a century

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 decline	det
2	steady	steady	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 decline	amod
3	decline	decline	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	toward	toward	ADP	_	6 unintelligibility	case
5	eventual	eventual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 unintelligibility	amod
6	unintelligibility	unintelligibility	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 decline	nmod
7	within	within	ADP	_	9 century	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 century	det
9	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 decline	nmod

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/language/20-is-there-one-proper-english/e1/