---
title: Mark's friend spells «friend» as «freind». Which memory trick fixes… — i before e, silent letters and other f… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mark's friend spells «friend» as «freind». Which memory trick fixes it? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 10 «i before e, silent letters and other famous traps» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · i before e, silent letters and other famous traps

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mark's friend spells «friend» as «freind». Which memory trick fixes it?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** friend, memory trick · **What happens:** spell, fix · **To what, where:** friend

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 10 «i before e, silent letters and other famous traps» of the English course of Mova's primary school. 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/english/10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Mark's friend spells «friend» as «freind».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps:t9:1
# text = Mark's friend spells «friend» as «freind».
1	Mark	Mark	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	spells	spell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	freind	freind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spell** | present | Mark's friend | friend |  |  |  | as freind | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Agent friend=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Which memory trick fixes it?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps:t9:2
# text = Which memory trick fixes it?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	memory	memory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	trick	trick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	fixes	fix	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fix** | present | memory trick | friend |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A friend to the end: the word ends in «end»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps:t9:o1:1
# text = A friend to the end: the word ends in «end»
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	ends	end	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **end** | present | a friend to the end |  |  |  | in end |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Write it as it sounds: frend

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps:t9:o2:1
# text = Write it as it sounds: frend
1	Write	write	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	sounds	sound	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
7	frend	frend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  | frend *obl* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 2 | **sound** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Friends eat ice: f-r-e-i

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps:t9:o3:1
# text = Friends eat ice: f-r-e-i
1	Friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
5	f	for	ADP	IN	Abbr=Yes	9	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	r	r	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	e	e	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	i	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present | Friends | ice |  |  |  | for r e | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ice=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
i before e except after c

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps:t9:o4:1
# text = i before e except after c
1	i	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	before	before	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	e	e	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	except	except	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	after	after	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	c	c	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **e** | present | i |  |  |  |  | except c; before *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

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- ← previous: [i before e, silent letters and other f…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps/t8/)
- next →: [i before e, silent letters and other f…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps/t10/)
- ↑ back to [i before e, silent letters and other famous traps](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps/)