Accents and dialects of Britain and Ireland
Tests: 1 of 11 right · Exam: 3 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 3 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 18 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 · ★ · wrong ✗
Your mate goes "Scousers talk lazy English, innit." What's the fair answer?
- 1. Scousers speak French, not English — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. He's right, Scouse is lazy because people can't be bothered — no support
- 3. Every accent has its own history and rules; none is lazy — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. He's right, but only when they speak quickly — 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 ✗
A Geordie lad at footie shouts "Howay, that goal was canny!" How did he find the goal?
- 1. Too far away to see — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Really good — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Really boring — no support
- 4. Very lucky and a bit unfair — 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 ✓
A poll says one city's accent is "the worst in Britain". What does that mostly show?
- 1. People's prejudices, not anything wrong with the accent — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. That the accent is the oldest in Britain — no support
- 3. That the people there really cannot speak English properly — no support
- 4. That the accent is about to disappear for good — 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 ✗
What would happen if everyone in Britain spoke exactly the same way?
- 1. Nothing, because they already all speak exactly the same way — ← Mova's choice · score 4
- 2. Everyone would have to learn RP from the King himself — no support
- 3. We'd lose lots of local words and history, like ginnel, howay and craic — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Nobody would ever understand a single word again — score 0
Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 1 with score 4, against 0 for the next best. Its support: lesson 16, line 1: «Everyone has at least two ways of talking: informal (relaxed and chatty, for mates and family) and formal (careful and polite, for teachers, strangers and offi…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «talk» (+4). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗
A Cockney grandad says "Give us a butcher's at your new phone." What does he want?
- 1. A sausage — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. A meat pie — no support
- 3. A sandwich — no support
- 4. A look — ✓ 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 · ★ · wrong ✗
Your Welsh auntie says "I'll put the kettle on now in a minute, love." Should you expect tea this second?
- 1. Yes, right this very second — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. No, she's saying she won't make tea at all — no support
- 3. Not quite, it'll be soon — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. No, she means tomorrow morning — 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 · ★ · wrong ✗
Your mate thinks most Brits sound like old BBC newsreaders. What's true?
- 1. No, everyone in Britain has a Scottish accent — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Most British people have regional accents; RP is rare — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Yes, because RP is taught in every British school — no support
- 4. Yes, nearly everyone in Britain sounds like the BBC — 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 ✗
In a cartoon, a Scottish character only says "Och aye the noo!" Is that real Scots?
- 1. Yes, that's the only phrase anyone in Scotland ever says — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Yes, it means hello and goodbye and nothing else exists — no support
- 3. It's a cartoon cliché; real Scots has many words, like ken, dinnae, fash — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. No, real Scots people only speak Gaelic at home — 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 ✗
A Dublin girl says "Your man there is a total eejit, but he's great craic." ("Your man" means that man.) What does she think of him?
- 1. He's her husband and very serious — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. He's dangerous and nobody likes him — no support
- 3. He's silly but loads of fun — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. He's boring but very clever — 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 ✗
An Aberdeen boy texts "Fit's fer tea?" ("Fer" is for, "tea" is the evening meal.) What's he asking?
- 1. Who is coming round for tea? — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. What's for dinner tonight? — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Is the food fit to eat? — no support
- 4. Is the tea fit to drink? — 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 ✗
Puzzle: in Doric, wh- often becomes f-. What would "Where are you going?" start with?
- 1. Whar — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Far — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Wear — no support
- 4. Fur — 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 ✓
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a dialect?
- 1. A defective variety of a language employed by uneducated persons — no support
- 2. A language unrelated to any other spoken in the same country — no support
- 3. The manner of pronunciation only, without any lexical distinctions — no support
- 4. A local variety of a language possessing distinct vocabulary and grammar — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 11
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 11, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 1, line 4: «Every language has grammar, the rules for fitting words together; "The dog ate the bone" makes sense, "Dog the bone the ate" makes people laugh, and the speake…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «grammar» (+4); it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «language» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Identify the proportion of the British population estimated to employ Received Pronunciation as a natural accent.
- 1. Approximately ninety in every hundred — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The entire population without exception — no support
- 3. Precisely one half — no support
- 4. Some two or three in every hundred — ✓ 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 · right ✓
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning Cockney rhyming slang.
- 1. It substitutes for a word a phrase which rhymes with it, frequently omitting the rhyming element — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
- 2. It is a modern invention originating in social media — no support
- 3. It is mandated in all schools within the city of London — no support
- 4. It consists solely of words borrowed from Latin and Greek — score 4
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 9, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 18, line 11: «Cockney rhyming slang from the East End of London swaps a word for a phrase that rhymes with it: apples and pears means stairs, dog and bone means phone, and b…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4); the same action «rhyme» (+3); the same doer «phrase» (+1); the same thing acted on «phrase» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓
In respect of the Irish English word "eejit", which statement is most accurate?
- 1. It denotes a fool but is frequently employed with affection — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. It is invariably a grave insult — no support
- 3. It is a term of praise for intelligence — no support
- 4. It denotes a close friend exclusively — 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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