---
title: Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning… — The apostrophe war · tree and pragmatics
description: Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the possessive forms "James's" and "James'". Exam question 3 of lesson 15 «The apostrophe war» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choi
---

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# Exam question 3 · The apostrophe war

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the possessive forms "James's" and "James'".

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 15 «The apostrophe war» 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/15-the-apostrophe-war/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:e3:1
# text = Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the possessive forms "James's" and "James'".
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	12	csubj	_	_
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	possessive	possessive	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	forms	form	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
13	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	James	James	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	's	's	PART	POS	_	14	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	James	James	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	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 |  |  |  |  | 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 possessive |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus possessive=Experiencer |
| 4 | **form** | present | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Both are in use, consistency within a text being the principal requirement

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:e3:o1:1
# text = Both are in use, consistency within a text being the principal requirement
1	Both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	consistency	consistency	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
7	within	within	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	text	text	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	cop	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	requirement	requirement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Both |  |  | use and consistency within a text |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | gerund | use and consistency within a text | the principal requirement |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The latter is erroneous in every circumstance

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:e3:o2:1
# text = The latter is erroneous in every circumstance
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	latter	latter	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	erroneous	erroneous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	circumstance	circumstance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the latter |  |  | every circumstance |  | erroneous *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The former is erroneous in every circumstance

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:e3:o3:1
# text = The former is erroneous in every circumstance
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	former	former	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	erroneous	erroneous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	circumstance	circumstance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the former |  |  | every circumstance |  | erroneous *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Both forms are prohibited by law

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:e3:o4:1
# text = Both forms are prohibited by law
1	Both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	forms	form	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prohibit** | present · passive | law | both forms |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**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: [The apostrophe war, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/e2/)
- next →: [The apostrophe war, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/e4/)
- ↑ back to [The apostrophe war](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/)