Words that changed their meaning

Tests: 3 of 10 right · Exam: 0 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 11 of 14 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 38 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 "words never change, bruv, a word means what it means, forever." What's true?

1. Only slang words ever change, never proper ones — score 6
2. Words change only when the government says so — score 5
3. He's right, words are fixed when they're first used — ← Mova's choice · score 7
4. Many words drift in meaning over hundreds of years — ✓ the right answer · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 7, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 38, line 1: «Words are not frozen: over hundreds of years their meanings drift, like boats slowly carried along by a river, so an old book can use a word you know in a way…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «use» (+4); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «word» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 4, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · right ✓

Your nan from Bristol says "'ee were a naughty one, my lover." ("My lover" is a friendly greeting in the West Country.) What does "naughty" mean today?

1. Badly behaved, usually about a child — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
2. Wicked and dangerous to everyone around — score 5
3. Blessed and very happy — score 5
4. Having nothing at all, very poor — score 6

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 8, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 38, line 11: «"Naughty" comes from "naught", meaning nothing; it first meant having nothing, then wicked, and now mostly a child behaving badly.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «behave» (+4); the same property (+4); the same circumstance (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · wrong ✗

What would happen if you read an old poem where a knight is "silly" and you used today's meaning?

1. Nothing, because "silly" has never changed meaning — score 0
2. You'd understand the poem exactly as the poet meant it — ← Mova's choice · score 2
3. You'd find out the knight was a clown at the court — score 2
4. You'd wrongly think he was foolish instead of blessed — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 2, tied with another option at 2 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 38, line 11: «"Naughty" comes from "naught", meaning nothing; it first meant having nothing, then wicked, and now mostly a child behaving badly.», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «mean» (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · wrong ✗

Your American cousin says "y'all, there's a deer in the yard!" ("Y'all" means you all.) In Old English, what could "deer" have been?

1. Only a deer with antlers — ← Mova's choice · score 5
2. Any wild animal at all — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Only a pet dog — no support
4. Only a bird — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 38, line 3: «Some words narrow (they come to mean less: "deer" once meant any wild animal), some widen or pick up new jobs (a "mouse" can now sit next to your keyboard), 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 doer «deer» (+3). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · right ✓

A Gen Z teen says "my dad's so random, lowkey." ("Lowkey" means a bit.) What does "random" mean here?

1. Very old and wise — score 5
2. Always on time — score 5
3. Strange and unexpected — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
4. Chosen by drawing lots — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 8, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 38, line 16: «In maths and science "random" means by chance; in slang since the 1980s it also means strange or out of place.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «random» (+3); the same property (+3); the same action «mean» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · wrong ✗

Your bro says "spam was always about emails, that's what the word means." What's true?

1. It's an old Latin word for rubbish — ← Mova's choice · score 6
2. It's short for "special mail" from the post office — no support
3. It's a tinned meat brand whose name a comedy sketch made into a word for junk — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. He's right, it was invented by the first email company to name junk messages — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 6, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 37, line 11: «A compound word is two words joined into one; "bookkeeper" (book + keeper) has three double letters in a row: oo, kk, ee.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «compound word» (+3); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same thing acted on «two words» (+1). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · right ✓

In a cartoon a detective says "a clue is a ball of thread, obviously." Could that ever have been right?

1. No, a clue has always meant a footprint or fingerprint — no support
2. Yes, "clue" comes from "clew", a ball of thread — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
3. No, "clue" was invented by detectives in 1900 — no support
4. Yes, but only in the Welsh language — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 9, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 38, line 15: «"Clue" comes from "clew", a ball of thread; in a Greek myth the hero Theseus used a ball of thread to find his way out of a maze called the labyrinth.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same place «clew» (+4); the same action «come» (+3); the same doer «clue» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · wrong ✗

Your grandad, a big fan of old films, says "Bully for you!" when you win a race. What does he mean?

1. You should fight the other runners — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Well done (an old phrase keeping the good sense of "bully") — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. You're as strong as a bull — no support
4. You pushed the others like a bully and he's cross with you — 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 ✗

Your mate says "a mouse is an animal, the computer one is a mistake." What's the fair answer?

1. The computer meaning is older than the animal one — ← Mova's choice · score 3
2. "Mouse" only means the computer thing now — no support
3. Old words get new jobs with new technology, and both meanings are right — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. He's right, the computer meaning is just a mistake that people keep making — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 38, line 4: «New meanings often come from technology, jokes, stories and slang, and the old meaning frequently lives on beside the new one.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same circumstance (+3); the same property (+1). Against it: the same doer «old meaning» (-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 ✗

Why might comparing an English word with German help you guess its old meaning?

1. German speakers invented every English word and gave them to England later — score 4
2. English and German are related, so German sometimes keeps the old sense — ✓ the right answer · score 3
3. English copied all its words from German last century — score 3
4. German words never change meaning at all — ← Mova's choice · score 6

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 10, line 3: «Some words don't change at all: one sheep, two sheep; one deer, two deer; one moose, two moose; you know how many from the number or from "is" and "are".», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «change» (+3); the same place «all» (+2); the same doer «words» (+1). The right option, 2, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the term designating the alteration of a word's meaning over the course of time.

1. Clipping — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Semantic change — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Inflection — no support
4. Back-formation — 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 history of the word "silly"?

1. It has signified foolish since the very earliest days of Old English — no support
2. It was borrowed from French in the twentieth century — no support
3. It formerly signified angry, and only later foolish — ← Mova's choice · score 5
4. It formerly signified blessed or happy, and only later foolish — ✓ the right answer · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 10, line 2: «That is why "two hice" sounds silly: house took the ordinary -s long ago, while mouse kept its old Old English plural; it is history, not logic.», 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 doer «two hice» (+3). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 4, scored 5. · 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 Old English word "dēor".

1. It denoted any wild animal and subsequently narrowed to a single species — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. It denoted a domestic dog and subsequently a deer — ← Mova's choice · score 0
3. It denoted exclusively the animal now termed a deer, and nothing else whatsoever — no support
4. It denoted a forest and subsequently an animal — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 0, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 4, line 4: «Many adverbs end in -ly, but not all (fast, soon, often), and some -ly words are adjectives (a friendly dog, a lonely cat); check what the word describes.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «adjectives» (+1). Against it: the same doer «ly words» (-1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Ascertain the original meaning of the Old English verb "steorfan", from which "starve" derives.

1. To cook — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. To be hungry — no support
3. To eat greedily — no support
4. To die — ✓ 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

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