Exam question 2 · Borrowed words: French, Norse and Latin

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the word "they"?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: word

This is exam question 2 of lesson 23 «Borrowed words: French, Norse and Latin» 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 word	det
10	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 they	punct
12	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 word	appos
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 they	punct
14	?	?	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 word				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

It is of Latin origin and entered the language via the Church and its scholars

The tree, 15 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	5 origin	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 origin	cop
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 origin	case
4	Latin	Latin	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 origin	amod
5	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 entered	cc
7	entered	enter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 origin	conj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 language	det
9	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 entered	obj
10	via	via	ADP	_	12 Church	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Church	det
12	Church	Church	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 entered	obl
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 scholars	cc
14	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 scholars	nmod:poss
15	scholars	scholar	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 Church	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					of Latin origin	tree rules
2	enter	past		the language				via the Church and language's scholars	vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme language=Destination

Option 2

It has existed unchanged in English since prehistory

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	4 unchanged	nsubj:pass
2	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 unchanged	aux
3	existed	exist	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 unchanged	aux:pass
4	unchanged	unchang	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 English	case
6	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 unchanged	obl
7	since	since	ADP	_	8 prehistory	case
8	prehistory	prehistory	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 unchanged	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	unchang	present · perfect · passive		It		English	since prehistory		tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It was borrowed from Old Norse, the language of the Viking settlers

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	3 borrowed	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 borrowed	aux:pass
3	borrowed	borrow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 Norse	case
5	Old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 Norse	amod
6	Norse	Norse	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 borrowed	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 language	punct
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 language	det
9	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 Norse	appos
10	of	of	ADP	_	13 settlers	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 settlers	det
12	Viking	viking	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 settlers	compound
13	settlers	settler	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 language	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	borrow	past · passive		It		Old Norse			vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: subject=Theme from norse=Source

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

It was introduced by the Normans in 1066 together with words for law and food

The tree, 15 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	3 introduced	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 introduced	aux:pass
3	introduced	introduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 Normans	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Normans	det
6	Normans	Norman	PROPN	Number=Plur	3 introduced	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 1066	case
8	1066	1066	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	3 introduced	obl
9	together	together	ADV	_	8 1066	advmod
10	with	with	ADP	_	11 words	case
11	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 introduced	obl
12	for	for	ADP	_	13 law	case
13	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 words	nmod
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 food	cc
15	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 law	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	introduce	past · passive	the Normans	It		1066		with words for law and food	vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent subject=Patient with word=Instrument

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/23-borrowed-words-french-norse-and-latin/e2/