Test 10 · ★ · Where English came from

Why might English spelling be so weird today?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: English spelling · What happens: be

This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 22 «Where English came from» of the language course of Mova's primary school. 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	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	7 weird	advmod
2	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 weird	aux
3	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 spelling	compound
4	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 weird	nsubj
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 weird	cop
6	so	so	ADV	_	7 weird	advmod
7	weird	weird	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
8	today	today	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 weird	obl:unmarked
9	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 weird	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	might	English spelling				today	weird 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 · ← Mova's choice

Printers chose new spellings at random every single day, just for fun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Printers	printer	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 chose	nsubj
2	chose	choose	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 spellings	amod
4	spellings	spelling	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 chose	obj
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 random	case
6	random	random	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 chose	obl
7	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	9 day	det
8	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 day	amod
9	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 chose	obl:unmarked
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 fun	punct
11	just	just	ADV	_	13 fun	advmod
12	for	for	ADP	_	13 fun	case
13	fun	fun	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 chose	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	choose	past	Printers	new spellings		random	day	for fun	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent spelling=Theme for fun=Beneficiary

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Spelling got stuck by printers while the sounds kept changing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 got	nsubj
2	got	get	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	stuck	stuck	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 got	xcomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 printers	case
5	printers	printer	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 got	obl
6	while	while	SCONJ	_	9 kept	mark
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sounds	det
8	sounds	sound	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 kept	nsubj
9	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 got	advcl
10	changing	change	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 kept	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	get	past	Spelling	by printers; stuck property	vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer
2	keep	past	the sounds		tree rules
3	change	gerund	the sounds not said here		vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

English never had any rules at all, so everyone spelled however they wanted

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 had	nsubj
2	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	3 had	advmod
3	had	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	5 rules	det
5	rules	rule	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 had	obj
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 all	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	3 had	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 spelled	punct
9	so	so	ADV	_	11 spelled	advmod
10	everyone	everyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Tot	11 spelled	nsubj
11	spelled	spell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	3 had	conj
12	however	however	ADV	_	14 wanted	advmod
13	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 wanted	nsubj
14	wanted	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 spelled	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	not have	past	English	any rules	all		vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rule=Patient
2	spell	participle	everyone				tree rules
3	want	past	rules = rule			however property	vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot

Option 4

Children changed the spellings for fun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 changed	nsubj
2	changed	change	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 spellings	det
4	spellings	spelling	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 changed	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 fun	case
6	fun	fun	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 changed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	change	past	Children	the spellings				for fun	vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent spelling=Theme for fun=Co-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/t10/