Tricky words and common exception words
Tests: 4 of 12 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 8 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 3 of the english course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · ★ · wrong ✗
«oi, look at the wall again and I'm tellin' Miss you're cheatin'». Is using the word wall cheating?
- 1. Yes, unless the teacher is out of the room and can't see you — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Yes, real spellers never look at anything — no support
- 3. No, but only Year 1 children may use it — no support
- 4. No, the wall is there so you check instead of guess — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★ · wrong ✗
Mum, cross: «SED?? rub it out, that's rubbish». What is a better response?
- 1. «Leave it, sed is fine at your age, nobody will ever mind» — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. «Great listening! This one's tricky: s-ai-d» — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. «Sed is the American way, so it's OK» — no support
- 4. «Rub it out and write it ten times» — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★ · right ✓
«bruh, one and two have literally no rules, english is mental». What is fair to say?
- 1. Wrong, «one» and «two» are spelled exactly how they sound — no support
- 2. He's right, every English word is a one-off — no support
- 3. A few old words are odd, but most words follow patterns — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 4. He's right, but only for number words — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 3, line 1: «Most English words follow the sound rules, but some very common ones have an odd bit. Schools call them tricky words or common exception words, and the Nationa…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «most english words» (+3); the same action «follow» (+2); a different thing acted on (counts against) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗
What would probably happen if Beth kept doing an hour of flashcards a night in tears?
- 1. Nothing, how long you practise makes no difference — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. She would learn twice as fast as other children — no support
- 3. She'd learn less, and spelling would feel like a battle — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. She'd soon remember every tricky word in English — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗
Aiden, eh: «my book's American, my teacher's Canadian, who's wrong?»
- 1. The book, American spelling is always wrong — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Nobody; color and colour are each right in their country — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. The teacher, Canada uses only American spelling now — no support
- 4. Both of them, the real spelling is «culler», like it sounds — no support
Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★ · right ✓
«tara-a-bit, I'm off to learn they, then, them on me own as random shapes». What would help more?
- 1. Learning each one as a random picture shape — score 4
- 2. Learning only one word a month, very slowly — score 6
- 3. Learning them as a family that all start with «the» — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
- 4. Skipping them for now, they're far too short to matter in a story — no support
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 7, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 3, line 4: «Tricky words come in families that share the odd bit: the, they, them, there, their all start with «the»; say, says, said share a strange vowel; come, some, do…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same action «start» (+2); the same doer «all» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗
Nan in Bradford: «frend! he's got that dyslexia, I'm sure of it». What should she do?
- 1. Buy him a computer so he never needs to spell again — no support
- 2. Teach «a friend to the end», and talk to the teacher only if problems are wide and lasting — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Stop him writing until the problem is fixed by itself — ← Mova's choice · score 7
- 4. Tell the school he has dyslexia — score 6
Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 3 with score 7, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 3, line 5: «Short, regular practice beats long battles. Five minutes a day with three to five words, as a game, works better than an hour of flashcards ending in tears. An…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same action «end» (+3). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★ · wrong ✗
A cartoon says tricky words must be learned «all at once, as a whole picture». What works better?
- 1. Copy the whole word out a hundred times — no support
- 2. Learn the word by its colour on the page — ← Mova's choice · score 6
- 3. Only read tricky words, never write them — score 4
- 4. Find the odd bit and learn that part — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 1, line 12: «Hearing the separate sounds in a word, such as the first sound /m/ in «moon», comes before matching sounds to letters; «I spy» with sounds trains it.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «separate sounds» (+4); the same action «hear» (+2). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗
«lol yo-u?? ur so sus». How could Holly's brother help instead?
- 1. Keep laughing, so she remembers it next time — no support
- 2. Tell her to skip the word when she meets it — no support
- 3. Show her you, your, you're, and how «you» stays the same in each — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Spell it for her every time she gets stuck — ← Mova's choice · score 3
Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 4 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 3, line 4: «Tricky words come in families that share the odd bit: the, they, them, there, their all start with «the»; say, says, said share a strange vowel; come, some, do…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «spell» (+2); the same thing acted on «short u» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗
★★★ Which word belongs in the family with come, some, done and none?
- 1. home — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. love — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. move — no support
- 4. cone — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★ · right ✓
★★★ Grace can read 20 tricky words but spell only 12. How many can she read but not yet spell?
- 1. 8 — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. 12 — no support
- 3. 32 — no support
- 4. 20 — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 12 · ★ · right ✓
★★★ In which word do the letters «ai» make the same odd /e/ sound as in «said»?
- 1. again, as most British people say it — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
- 2. paid, as in «I paid for it» — no support
- 3. sail, as in «a boat's sail» — no support
- 4. rain, as in «it's raining» — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 2, line 5: «Reading the words aloud is not the same as understanding them. A boy can read every word of a story and still not know what happened, so grown-ups ask «Who was…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same action «read» (+2); the same thing acted on «words» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a common exception word?
- 1. A word employed exclusively in formal correspondence and in official documents of state — no support
- 2. A word borrowed recently from a foreign tongue — no support
- 3. A frequently used word of which some part departs from the usual correspondence of sound and letter — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 10
- 4. A word of which no letter whatsoever corresponds to its sound — score 8
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 10, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 3, line 8: «Many tricky words are old words whose sound changed while the spelling stayed the same.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+6); the same doer «many tricky words» (+4). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Ascertain the most appropriate response of a parent to a child who writes «sed» in place of «said».
- 1. To accept the spelling permanently, since it faithfully reflects the sounds of the word as spoken — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. To erase the attempt immediately and in evident displeasure — no support
- 3. To commend the accurate hearing of the sounds and demonstrate the correct spelling — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. To refer the child to a specialist without delay — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓
Identify the principal reason for which numerous common English words possess irregular spellings.
- 1. Their pronunciation altered over centuries whilst their spelling remained unchanged — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
- 2. Their spelling is determined afresh each year by examination boards — no support
- 3. They were invented recently and have not yet acquired settled spellings — score -1
- 4. They were deliberately misspelled by scholars in order to test pupils — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 5, against -1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 3, line 5: «Short, regular practice beats long battles. Five minutes a day with three to five words, as a game, works better than an hour of flashcards ending in tears. An…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «one wrong word» (+3); the same action «say» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
It is given that a pupil of seven years writes «frend» on one occasion. Select the response consistent with the established facts.
- 1. The error demonstrates that the pupil has received no instruction — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Dyslexia is thereby established beyond doubt — no support
- 3. No conclusion concerning dyslexia may be drawn from a single common error — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. The pupil must be withdrawn from spelling instruction — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/english/3-tricky-words-and-common-exception-words/