---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Apostrophes: missing letters and belon… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the function of the apostrophe in "can't"? Exam question 2 of lesson 34 «Apostrophes: missing letters and belonging» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each opt
---

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# Exam question 2 · Apostrophes: missing letters and belonging

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the function of the apostrophe in "can't"?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** function

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 34 «Apostrophes: missing letters and belonging» 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/34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging:e2:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the function of the apostrophe in "can't"?
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	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	function	function	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	apostrophe	apostrophe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	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 |  | the function of the apostrophe |  |  |  | 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It denotes possession

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging:e2:o1:1
# text = It denotes possession
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	denotes	denote	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	possession	possession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **denote** | present | It | possession |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot possession=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It indicates a plural

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging:e2:o2:1
# text = It indicates a plural
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	indicates	indicate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	plural	plural	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **indicate** | present | It | a plural |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot plural=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It separates two clauses

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging:e2:o3:1
# text = It separates two clauses
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	separates	separate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	clauses	clause	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **separate** | present | It | two clauses |  |  |  |  | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clause=Patient |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It marks the omission of letters

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging:e2:o4:1
# text = It marks the omission of letters
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	marks	mark	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	omission	omission	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mark** | present | It | the omission of letters |  |  |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent omission=Destination |
| 2 | **omit** |  |  | letters |  |  |  |  | nom omission «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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.

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- ← previous: [Apostrophes: missing letters and belon…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging/e1/)
- next →: [Apostrophes: missing letters and belon…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Apostrophes: missing letters and belonging](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/34-apostrophes-missing-letters-and-belonging/)