---
title: Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning… — Spelling traps: their, there, they're… · tree and pragmatics
description: Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the rule "i before e except after c". Exam question 3 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 
---

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# Exam question 3 · Spelling traps: their, there, they're and friends

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the rule "i before e except after c".

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, established facts · **What happens:** select, establish, concern · **To what, where:** response, rule

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 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/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre:e3:1
# text = Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the rule "i before e except after c".
1	Select	select	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	response	response	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	xcomp	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	established	establish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	amod	_	_
8	facts	fact	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	i	i	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
14	before	before	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	e	e	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
16	except	except	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	after	after	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	c	c	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **select** | imperative | you *not said here* | the response |  |  |  | consistent *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme |
| 2 | **establish** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **concern** | gerund | the established facts *not said here* | the rule and i |  |  | before e |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus rule=Experiencer |

<!-- .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 applies solely to words of Latin origin

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre:e3:o1:1
# text = It applies solely to words of Latin origin
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	applies	apply	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	solely	solely	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	Latin	Latin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	origin	origin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **apply** | present | It |  |  |  |  | to words of Latin origin; solely *property* | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **word** |  |  | Latin origin |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It admits numerous exceptions, such as "science", "weird" and "their"

<!-- fold The tree, 10 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre:e3:o2:1
# text = It admits numerous exceptions, such as "science", "weird" and "their"
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	admits	admit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	numerous	numerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	exceptions	exception	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	9	case	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	6	fixed	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	science	science	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	weird	weird	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **admit** *speech: other* | present | It | numerous exceptions |  |  |  | such science | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It admits no exceptions whatsoever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre:e3:o3:1
# text = It admits no exceptions whatsoever
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	admits	admit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	exceptions	exception	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **admit** *speech: other* | present | It | no exceptions |  |  |  | whatsoever *property* | vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent exception=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was abolished by statute

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre:e3:o4:1
# text = It was abolished by statute
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	abolished	abolish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	statute	statute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **abolish** | past · passive | statute | It |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

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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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