Spelling traps: their, there, they're and friends
Tests: 3 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 1 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 12 of the language 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 · right ✓
Your mate goes "they're, their, there, same thing innit, sounds the same." What's the best reply?
- 1. They're is American, their is British — no support
- 2. He's right, any of them works because they sound the same — score 7
- 3. They sound alike but mean different things, so writing needs the right one — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
- 4. Only "there" is a real word — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 9, against 7 for the next best. Its support: lesson 12, line 1: «Some English words sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things: they're (they are), their (belonging to them) and there (that place):…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «mean» (+4); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «different things» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · wrong ✗
A Gen Z cousin comments "ur drawing slaps" on your art. ("Slaps" means is brilliant.) If you wrote it in full in school English, what would it be?
- 1. Your drawing slaps you — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Your drawing is brilliant — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. You're drawing is brilliant — no support
- 4. Yore drawing is brilliant — 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 · wrong ✗
What would happen if we spelled every word exactly as it sounds?
- 1. Nobody could write "too" — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Nothing, because they already look different from each other — no support
- 3. We'd need more letters for "there" — no support
- 4. Their, there and they're would all look the same — ✓ 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 4 · wrong ✗
A sign says "Dog's must be on there leads." How many mistakes?
- 1. One: there — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Two: Dog's and there — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. None, it's correct — no support
- 4. Three: Dog's, must, there — 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 ✗
Your nan from Cornwall, proper old-school, says "spelling's just being born good at it, my lover." ("My lover" is a friendly greeting there.) What's true?
- 1. She's right, nobody can learn spelling — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Spelling is just luck each time — no support
- 3. Only grown-ups can learn spelling — no support
- 4. Tricks and patterns help anyone learn hard spellings — ✓ 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 6 · right ✓
Your teacher swears by "i before e except after c." Which word gives her a headache?
- 1. their — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. believe — no support
- 3. receive — no support
- 4. field — 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 7 · right ✓
Which is right: "Don't ___ your keys, the ring is ___"?
- 1. lose, loose — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. loose, loose — no support
- 3. lose, lose — no support
- 4. loose, lose — 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 8 · wrong ✗
Your dad, typing fast, writes "I'll pick u up at too." What did he mean?
- 1. Very much — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Towards you — no support
- 3. Also — no support
- 4. At two o'clock — ✓ 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 9 · wrong ✗
In a cartoon, a pirate's map says "The tresure is over they're." Fix the last words.
- 1. over their — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. over thier — no support
- 3. over they'r — no support
- 4. over there — ✓ 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 10 · wrong ✗
Grandad says "I never know weather to wear a coat." Fix one word.
- 1. weathers — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. whether — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. wether — no support
- 4. weather's — 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 · wrong ✗
Your mate writes "definatly" and insists "it's lowkey impossible to spell." ("Lowkey" means kind of.) What's the tip?
- 1. Just write "def" — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Add more a's until it looks right — no support
- 3. Find "finite" inside definitely — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Spell it with an i before e — 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 1 · formal language · right ✓
Identify the formulation consistent with the conventions of written English.
- 1. They're going to their house over there — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. There going to they're house over their — no support
- 3. Their going to there house over they're — no support
- 4. They're going to there house over their — 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 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the form "it's"?
- 1. A plural of the word "it" — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The possessive form of "it" — no support
- 3. An archaic spelling of "its" — no support
- 4. A contraction of "it is" or "it has" — ✓ 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
Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the rule "i before e except after c".
- 1. It applies solely to words of Latin origin — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. It admits numerous exceptions, such as "science", "weird" and "their" — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. It admits no exceptions whatsoever — no support
- 4. It was abolished by statute — 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 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
Ascertain the correctly spelled form of the word meaning "with certainty".
- 1. defiantly — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. definitely — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. definately — no support
- 4. definatly — 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
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