Exam question 2 · Words that changed their meaning

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the history of the word "silly"?

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

This is exam question 2 of lesson 38 «Words that changed their meaning» 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 history	det
10	history	history	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 word	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 word	det
13	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 history	nmod
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 silly	punct
15	silly	silly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 word	appos
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 silly	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 history of 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 has signified foolish since the very earliest days of Old English

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 signified	nsubj:pass
2	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 signified	aux
3	signified	signify	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	foolish	foolish	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 signified	xcomp
5	since	since	ADP	_	9 days	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 days	det
7	very	very	ADV	_	8 earliest	advmod
8	earliest	early	ADJ	Degree=Sup	9 days	amod
9	days	day	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 signified	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 English	case
11	Old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 English	amod
12	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 days	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	present · perfect · passive		It			day	foolish property	vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 2

It was borrowed from French in the twentieth century

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	_	5 French	case
5	French	French	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 borrowed	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	9 century	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 century	det
8	twentieth	twentieth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 century	amod
9	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 borrowed	obl

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

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

It formerly signified angry, and only later foolish

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 signified	nsubj
2	formerly	formerly	ADV	_	3 signified	advmod
3	signified	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	angry	angry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 signified	xcomp
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 foolish	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 foolish	cc
7	only	only	ADV	_	8 later	advmod
8	later	late	ADV	Degree=Cmp	9 foolish	advmod
9	foolish	foolish	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 signified	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	past	It					angry, formerly property	vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It formerly signified blessed or happy, and only later foolish

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 signified	nsubj
2	formerly	formerly	ADV	_	3 signified	advmod
3	signified	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	blessed	blessed	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 signified	xcomp
5	or	or	CCONJ	_	6 happy	cc
6	happy	happy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 blessed	conj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 foolish	punct
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 foolish	cc
9	only	only	ADV	_	10 later	advmod
10	later	late	ADV	Degree=Cmp	11 foolish	advmod
11	foolish	foolish	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 blessed	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	past	It					blessed, formerly property	vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot

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.

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