---
title: What would happen if English spelling followed speech exactly? — Silent letters and the mystery of -ough · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if English spelling followed speech exactly? Test 4 of lesson 13 «Silent letters and the mystery of -ough» 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 was right.
---

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# Test 4 · Silent letters and the mystery of -ough

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if English spelling followed speech exactly?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** happen, follow

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 of lesson 13 «Silent letters and the mystery of -ough» of the language 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/language/13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t4:1
# text = What would happen if English spelling followed speech exactly?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	spelling	spelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
7	followed	follow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	amod	_	_
8	speech	speech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	advcl	_	_
9	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | exactly *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **follow** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Knee would be "nee" and lamb "lam"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t4:o1:1
# text = Knee would be "nee" and lamb "lam"
1	Knee	knee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	nee	nee	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	lamb	lamb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	lam	lam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | would | Knee |  |  |  |  | nee *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
All words would get longer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t4:o2:1
# text = All words would get longer
1	All	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	longer	long	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | would | all words |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, because English already spells every word as it sounds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t4:o3:1
# text = Nothing, because English already spells every word as it sounds
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	already	already	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	spells	spell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	sounds	sound	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spell** | present | Nothing | every word |  |  |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Agent word=Theme |
| 2 | **sound** | present | word |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only names would change

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough:t4:o4:1
# text = Only names would change
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	names	name	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | would | names |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: 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.

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- ← previous: [Silent letters and the mystery of -ough, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough/t3/)
- next →: [Silent letters and the mystery of -ough, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Silent letters and the mystery of -ough](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough/)