---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a ho… — Homophones and near-homophones · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a homophone? Exam question 1 of lesson 11 «Homophones and near-homophones» 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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# Exam question 1 · Homophones and near-homophones

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a homophone?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** homophone

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 11 «Homophones and near-homophones» of the English course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:11-homophones-and-near-homophones:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a homophone?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	homophone	homophone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | a homophone |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A word identical in pronunciation to another but distinct in spelling and meaning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:11-homophones-and-near-homophones:e1:o1:1
# text = A word identical in pronunciation to another but distinct in spelling and meaning
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	identical	identical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	pronunciation	pronunciation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	obl	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	distinct	distinct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	spelling	spelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A word employed exclusively in poetry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:11-homophones-and-near-homophones:e1:o2:1
# text = A word employed exclusively in poetry
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	poetry	poetry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **employ** | participle |  | a word *not said here* |  | poetry |  | exclusively *property* | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A word of which the spelling is identical when reversed, as in «level» or «noon»

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:11-homophones-and-near-homophones:e1:o3:1
# text = A word of which the spelling is identical when reversed, as in «level» or «noon»
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	obl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	spelling	spelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	identical	identical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
9	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
10	reversed	reverse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	as	as	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	level	level	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	noon	noon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the spelling |  |  |  |  | of identical reversed level or noon; identical *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **reverse** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A word identical in meaning to another but distinct in pronunciation

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:11-homophones-and-near-homophones:e1:o4:1
# text = A word identical in meaning to another but distinct in pronunciation
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	identical	identical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	nmod	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	distinct	distinct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	pronunciation	pronunciation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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**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.

<!-- /div -->

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