Exam question 3 · Where English came from

In respect of the inscription "Ye Olde Tea Shoppe", select the response consistent with the established facts.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: select, establish, respect · To what, where: response, respect, inscription

This is exam question 3 of lesson 22 «Where English came from» 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	In	in	ADP	_	2 respect	case
2	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 select	obl
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 inscription	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 inscription	det
5	inscription	inscription	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 respect	nmod
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 Ye	punct
7	Ye	Ye	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 inscription	appos
8	Olde	Olde	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Ye	flat
9	Tea	Tea	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Ye	flat
10	Shoppe	Shoppe	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Ye	flat
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 Ye	punct
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 respect	punct
13	select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 response	det
15	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 select	obj
16	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 response	amod
17	with	with	ADP	_	20 facts	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 facts	det
19	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	20 facts	amod
20	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 consistent	obl
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	13 select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	respect of the inscription	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	respect			the inscription		nom respect «cognition 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 · ✓ the right answer

The initial letter represents the obsolete character thorn and the word is pronounced "the"

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 letter	det
2	initial	initial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 letter	amod
3	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 represents	nsubj
4	represents	represent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 thorn	det
6	obsolete	obsolete	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 character	compound
7	character	character	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 thorn	compound
8	thorn	thorn	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 pronounced	nsubj:pass
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 word	cc
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 word	det
11	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 thorn	conj
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 pronounced	aux:pass
13	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 represents	ccomp
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 the	punct
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 pronounced	obj
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 the	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	represent	present	the initial letter						vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	pronounce	present · passive		the character thorn and the word					vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Theme the=Result

Option 2

The letter Y was a purely decorative addition of no significance, much favoured by sign painters

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 letter	det
2	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 addition	nsubj
3	Y	Y	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 letter	appos
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 addition	cop
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 addition	det
6	purely	purely	ADV	_	7 decorative	advmod
7	decorative	decorative	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 addition	amod
8	addition	addition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 significance	case
10	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	11 significance	det
11	significance	significance	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 addition	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 favoured	punct
13	much	much	ADV	_	14 favoured	advmod
14	favoured	favour	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 addition	acl
15	by	by	ADP	_	17 painters	case
16	sign	sign	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 painters	compound
17	painters	painter	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 favoured	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	the letter	a decorative addition				of no significance	tree rules
2	favour	participle		a decorative addition not said here				by sign painters	tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

The word was pronounced "ye" by all mediaeval speakers, precisely as the spelling plainly indicates

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 word	det
2	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 pronounced	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 pronounced	aux:pass
4	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 ye	punct
6	ye	ye	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=2 PronType=Prs Style=Arch	4 pronounced	obl:agent
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 ye	punct
8	by	by	ADP	_	11 speakers	case
9	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	11 speakers	det
10	mediaeval	mediaeval	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 speakers	compound
11	speakers	speaker	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 pronounced	obl
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 indicates	punct
13	precisely	precisely	ADV	_	18 indicates	advmod
14	as	as	SCONJ	_	18 indicates	mark
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 spelling	det
16	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 indicates	nsubj
17	plainly	plainly	ADV	_	18 indicates	advmod
18	indicates	indicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 pronounced	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pronounce	past · passive	ye	the word				by all mediaeval speakers	vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	indicate	present	the spelling					plainly, precisely property	vn indicate-78-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot

Option 4

The word signifies the pronoun "you"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 word	det
2	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 signifies	nsubj
3	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 pronoun	det
5	pronoun	pronoun	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 signifies	obj
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 you	punct
7	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	5 pronoun	appos
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 you	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	present	the word	the pronoun					vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot pronoun=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/22-where-english-came-from/e3/