Exam question 3 · Prepositions and conjunctions: little words that hold sent…

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the placement of a preposition at the end of an English sentence.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, placement, end

This is exam question 3 of lesson 6 «Prepositions and conjunctions: little words that hold sentences together» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 placement	det
11	placement	placement	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 preposition	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 preposition	det
14	preposition	preposition	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 placement	nmod
15	at	at	ADP	_	17 end	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 end	det
17	end	end	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obl
18	of	of	ADP	_	21 sentence	case
19	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	21 sentence	det
20	English	English	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 sentence	amod
21	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 end	nmod
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response		consistent property	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	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the placement of a preposition	at the end of a English sentence		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus placement=Experiencer

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

Such placement constitutes an error in every variety of English, without exception

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 placement	amod
2	placement	placement	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 constitutes	nsubj
3	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 error	det
5	error	error	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 constitutes	obj
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 variety	case
7	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	8 variety	det
8	variety	variety	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 constitutes	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 English	case
10	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 variety	nmod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 exception	punct
12	without	without	ADP	_	13 exception	case
13	exception	exception	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 constitutes	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	present	Such placement	a error		every variety of English			vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme error=Pivot

Option 2

Such placement is permitted exclusively in interrogative sentences

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 placement	amod
2	placement	placement	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 permitted	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 permitted	aux:pass
4	permitted	permit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	4 permitted	advmod
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 sentences	case
7	interrogative	interrogative	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sentences	compound
8	sentences	sentence	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 permitted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	permit	present · passive		Such placement		interrogative sentences		exclusively property	vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in sentence=Location

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Such placement is natural in English; the contrary prescription derives from imitation of Latin

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 placement	amod
2	placement	placement	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 natural	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 natural	cop
4	natural	natural	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 English	case
6	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 natural	obl
7	;	;	PUNCT	_	11 derives	punct
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 prescription	det
9	contrary	contrary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 prescription	amod
10	prescription	prescription	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 derives	nsubj
11	derives	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 natural	conj
12	from	from	ADP	_	13 imitation	case
13	imitation	imitation	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 derives	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 Latin	case
15	Latin	Latin	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 imitation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is	present	Such placement		English	natural property	tree rules
2	derive	present	the contrary prescription		imitation of Latin		vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent from imitation=Material
3	imitate			Latin			nom imitation «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

Such placement was prohibited by statute in the eighteenth century

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 placement	amod
2	placement	placement	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 prohibited	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 prohibited	aux:pass
4	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 statute	case
6	statute	statute	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 prohibited	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	10 century	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 century	det
9	eighteenth	eighteenth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 century	amod
10	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 prohibited	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	past · passive	statute	Such placement			century		vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=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/6-prepositions-and-conjunctions/e3/