---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Spelling traps: their, there, they're… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the form "it's"? Exam question 2 of lesson 12 «Spelling traps: their, there, they're and friends» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice
---

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# Exam question 2 · Spelling traps: their, there, they're and friends

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the form "it's"?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 12 «Spelling traps: their, there, they're and friends» of the language 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/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre:e2:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the form "it's"?
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	1	nmod	_	_
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	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	"	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	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 form |  |  |  | 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 -->
A plural of the word "it"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre:e2:o1:1
# text = A plural of the word "it"
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	plural	plural	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The possessive form of "it"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre:e2:o2:1
# text = The possessive form of "it"
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	possessive	possessive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **form** |  |  | form |  |  |  |  | nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An archaic spelling of "its"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre:e2:o3:1
# text = An archaic spelling of "its"
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	archaic	archaic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	spelling	spelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A contraction of "it is" or "it has"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre:e2:o4:1
# text = A contraction of "it is" or "it has"
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	contraction	contraction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** *in a quote* | present | contraction |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **have** *in a quote* | present | a contraction |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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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- ← previous: [Spelling traps: their, there, they're…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/e1/)
- next →: [Spelling traps: their, there, they're…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Spelling traps: their, there, they're and friends](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/)