Exam question 2 · Building words: prefixes, suffixes and compounds

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the formation of the verb "burgle"?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: formation

This is exam question 2 of lesson 37 «Building words: prefixes, suffixes and compounds» 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 formation	det
10	formation	formation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 verb	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 verb	det
13	verb	verb	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 formation	nmod
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 burgle	punct
15	burgle	burgle	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 verb	appos
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 burgle	punct
17	?	?	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 formation of the verb				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 · ← Mova's choice

It is a blend of "burger" and "gargle"

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 blend	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 blend	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 blend	det
4	blend	blend	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 burger	case
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 burger	punct
7	burger	burger	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 blend	nmod
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 burger	punct
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 gargle	cc
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 gargle	punct
11	gargle	gargle	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 burger	conj
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 gargle	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a blend				of burger and gargle	tree rules

Option 2

Both were borrowed simultaneously from Latin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	3 borrowed	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 borrowed	aux:pass
3	borrowed	borrow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	simultaneously	simultaneously	ADV	_	3 borrowed	advmod
5	from	from	ADP	_	6 Latin	case
6	Latin	Latin	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 borrowed	obl

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

Option 3

The noun "burglar" was derived from the pre-existing verb "burgle" by suffixation

The tree, 12 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 noun	det
2	noun	noun	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 derived	nsubj:pass
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 burglar	punct
4	burglar	burglar	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 noun	appos
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 burglar	punct
6	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 derived	aux:pass
7	derived	derive	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	from	from	ADP	_	11 verb	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 verb	det
10	pre-existing	pre-existing	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 verb	amod
11	verb	verb	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 derived	obl
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 burgle	punct
13	burgle	burgle	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 verb	appos
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 burgle	punct
15	by	by	ADP	_	16 suffixation	case
16	suffixation	suffixation	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 derived	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	derive	past · passive	suffixation	the noun		the pre-existing verb			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent subject=Result from verb=Material

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It was derived from the pre-existing noun "burglar" by back-formation

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 derived	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 derived	aux:pass
3	derived	derive	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	7 noun	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 noun	det
6	pre-existing	pre-existing	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 noun	amod
7	noun	noun	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 derived	obl
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 burglar	punct
9	burglar	burglar	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 noun	appos
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 burglar	punct
11	by	by	ADP	_	14 formation	case
12	back	back	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 formation	compound
13	-	-	PUNCT	_	12 back	punct
14	formation	formation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 derived	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	derive	past · passive	back formation	It		the pre-existing noun			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent subject=Result from noun=Material

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/37-building-words-prefixes-suffixes-and-compounds/e2/