Exam question 4 · Commas: lists, clauses and clarity

Ascertain the correctly punctuated version of a sentence containing a non-essential relative clause.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, sentence · What happens: ascertain, punctuate, contain · To what, where: punctuated version, non-essential relative clause

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 version	det
3	correctly	correctly	ADV	_	4 punctuated	advmod
4	punctuated	punctuate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 version	amod
5	version	version	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 sentence	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 sentence	det
8	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 version	nmod
9	containing	contain	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 sentence	acl
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 clause	det
11	non-essential	non-essential	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 clause	amod
12	relative	relative	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 clause	amod
13	clause	clause	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 containing	obj
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the punctuated version of a sentence		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent version=Topic
2	punctuate	participle			correctly property	vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent
3	contain	gerund	a sentence not said here	a non-essential relative clause		vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme

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 · ← Mova's choice

My uncle who lives in Cork, sings.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	My	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 uncle	nmod:poss
2	uncle	uncle	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sings	nsubj
3	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 lives	nsubj
4	lives	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 uncle	acl:relcl
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 Cork	case
6	Cork	Cork	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 lives	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 uncle	punct
8	sings	sing	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	8 sings	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	live	present	My uncle			Cork			vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cork=Location
2	sing speech: express	present	My uncle						vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

My uncle, who lives in Cork, sings.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	My	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 uncle	nmod:poss
2	uncle	uncle	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 sings	nsubj
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 lives	punct
4	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 lives	nsubj
5	lives	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 uncle	acl:relcl
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 Cork	case
7	Cork	Cork	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 lives	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 uncle	punct
9	sings	sing	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	.	.	PUNCT	_	9 sings	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	live	present	My uncle			Cork			vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cork=Location
2	sing speech: express	present	My uncle						vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location

Option 3

My uncle, who lives in Cork sings.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	My	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 uncle	nmod:poss
2	uncle	uncle	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sings	nsubj
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 lives	punct
4	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 lives	nsubj
5	lives	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 uncle	acl:relcl
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 Cork	case
7	Cork	Cork	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 lives	obl
8	sings	sing	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	8 sings	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	live	present	My uncle			Cork			vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cork=Location
2	sing speech: express	present	My uncle						vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location

Option 4

My, uncle who lives in Cork sings.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	My	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 uncle	nmod:poss
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 uncle	punct
3	uncle	uncle	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sings	nsubj
4	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 lives	nsubj
5	lives	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 uncle	acl:relcl
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 Cork	case
7	Cork	Cork	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 lives	obl
8	sings	sing	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	8 sings	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	live	present	My uncle			Cork			vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cork=Location
2	sing speech: express	present	My uncle						vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location

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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