Exam question 2 · Commas: lists, clauses and clarity

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a comma splice?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: comma splice

This is exam question 2 of lesson 33 «Commas: lists, clauses and clarity» 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.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 splice	det
10	comma	comma	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 splice	compound
11	splice	splice	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	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		a comma splice				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

Option 1

A list of items separated by commas

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 list	det
2	list	list	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 items	case
4	items	item	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 list	nmod
5	separated	separate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 items	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 commas	case
7	commas	comma	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 separated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	separate	participle		items not said here				by commas	vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	list			items					nom list «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

A comma placed after an opening phrase

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 comma	det
2	comma	comma	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 comma	acl
4	after	after	ADP	_	7 phrase	case
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 phrase	det
6	opening	opening	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 phrase	compound
7	phrase	phrase	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 placed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	place	participle		a comma not said here			after a opening phrase		vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Two complete sentences joined solely by a comma

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 sentences	nummod
2	complete	complete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 sentences	amod
3	sentences	sentence	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	joined	join	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 sentences	acl
5	solely	solely	ADV	_	4 joined	advmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 comma	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 comma	det
8	comma	comma	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 joined	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	join	participle		Two complete sentences not said here				by a comma; solely property	vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

A pair of commas enclosing extra information

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 pair	det
2	pair	pair	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 commas	case
4	commas	comma	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 pair	nmod
5	enclosing	enclose	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 commas	acl
6	extra	extra	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 information	amod
7	information	information	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 enclosing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	enclose	gerund	commas not said here	extra information					vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme information=Co-Theme

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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity/e2/