Test 11 · Commas: lists, clauses and clarity
★★★ "We invited the clowns, Anna and Bea." With the Oxford comma "the clowns, Anna, and Bea" what changes?
Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: We, Oxford comma · What happens: invite, change · To what, where: ★ ★ ★
This is test 11 of lesson 33 «Commas: lists, clauses and clarity» of the English 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.
The question
Sentence 1: ★★★ "We invited the clowns, Anna and Bea."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ★ | ★ | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 ★ | compound |
| 2 | ★ | ★ | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 ★ | compound |
| 3 | ★ | ★ | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 invited | nmod:desc |
| 4 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 invited | punct |
| 5 | We | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 6 invited | nsubj |
| 6 | invited | invite | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 clowns | det |
| 8 | clowns | clown | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 invited | obj |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 Anna | punct |
| 10 | Anna | Anna | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 clowns | appos |
| 11 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 12 Bea | cc |
| 12 | Bea | Bea | PROPN | Number=Sing | 10 Anna | conj |
| 13 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 invited | punct |
| 14 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 invited | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | invite in a quote | past | We | ★ ★ ★ | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clown=Recipient |
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.
Sentence 2: With the Oxford comma "the clowns, Anna, and Bea" what changes?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | With | with | ADP | _ | 4 comma | case |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 comma | det |
| 3 | Oxford | Oxford | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 comma | compound |
| 4 | comma | comma | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 changes | nsubj |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 clowns | punct |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 clowns | det |
| 7 | clowns | clown | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 comma | appos |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 Anna | punct |
| 9 | Anna | Anna | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 clowns | appos |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 changes | punct |
| 11 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 changes | cc |
| 12 | Bea | Bea | PROPN | Number=Sing | 15 changes | nsubj |
| 13 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 15 changes | punct |
| 14 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 15 changes | nsubj |
| 15 | changes | change | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 16 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 15 changes | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | change | present | the Oxford comma | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
The options
Option 1 · ✓ the right answer
It shows the clowns, Anna and Bea are separate guests
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 shows | nsubj |
| 2 | shows | show | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 clowns | det |
| 4 | clowns | clown | NOUN | Number=Plur | 11 guests | nsubj |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 Anna | punct |
| 6 | Anna | Anna | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 clowns | appos |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 Bea | cc |
| 8 | Bea | Bea | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 Anna | conj |
| 9 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 11 guests | cop |
| 10 | separate | separate | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 guests | amod |
| 11 | guests | guest | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 shows | ccomp |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | show | present | It | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | is a | present | the clowns | separate guests | tree rules |
Option 2
It means Anna and Bea did the inviting
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 means | nsubj |
| 2 | means | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | Anna | Anna | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 did | nsubj |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 Bea | cc |
| 5 | Bea | Bea | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 Anna | conj |
| 6 | did | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 means | ccomp |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 inviting | det |
| 8 | inviting | inviting | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 did | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mean | present | It | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | do | past | Anna and Bea | the inviting | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent inviting=Eventuality |
Option 3
It shows Anna and Bea are the clowns
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 shows | nsubj |
| 2 | shows | show | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | Anna | Anna | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 clowns | nsubj |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 Bea | cc |
| 5 | Bea | Bea | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 Anna | conj |
| 6 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 clowns | cop |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 clowns | det |
| 8 | clowns | clown | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 shows | ccomp |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | show | present | It | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | is a | present | Anna and Bea | the clowns | tree rules |
Option 4 · ← Mova's choice
Nothing changes at all in meaning
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 2 changes | nsubj |
| 2 | changes | change | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | at | at | ADP | _ | 4 all | case |
| 4 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 2 changes | obl |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 6 meaning | case |
| 6 | meaning | meaning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 changes | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | change | present | Nothing | all | in meaning | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
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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