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Test 9 · Commas: lists, clauses and clarity

Dad, bit grumpy: "Read it again, I said commas, not confetti." What is he telling his son?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: I, Dad · What happens: read, say, tell · To what, where: bit, commas, son · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 9 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: Dad, bit grumpy: "Read it again, I said commas, not confetti."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dad	dad	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 grumpy	nsubj
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 bit	punct
3	bit	bit	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 grumpy	obl:unmarked
4	grumpy	grumpy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	:	:	PUNCT	_	7 Read	punct
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 Read	punct
7	Read	read	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	4 grumpy	parataxis
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 Read	obj
9	again	again	ADV	_	7 Read	advmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 said	punct
11	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	12 said	nsubj
12	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 Read	conj
13	commas	comma	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 said	obj
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 confetti	punct
15	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	16 confetti	advmod
16	confetti	confetti	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 commas	conj
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 grumpy	punct
18	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 grumpy	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	read in a quote	infinitive		bit			again		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic
2	say speech: assert in a quote	past	I	commas and confetti					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent comma=Topic

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: What is he telling his son?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	4 telling	obj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 telling	aux
3	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 telling	nsubj
4	telling	tell	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 son	nmod:poss
6	son	son	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 telling	obj
7	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 telling	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	present · progressive	Dad		Dad's son				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent what=Recipient son=Topic

The options

Option 1

Commas are for parties

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Commas	comma	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 parties	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 parties	cop
3	for	for	ADP	_	4 parties	case
4	parties	party	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Commas					for parties	tree rules

Option 2

Throw away all his commas

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Throw	throw	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	away	away	ADV	_	1 Throw	advmod
3	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 commas	det:predet
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 commas	nmod:poss
5	commas	comma	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Throw	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	throw away	imperative	you not said here	his commas				away property	vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent comma=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Use far more commas in every sentence he writes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Use	use	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	3 more	advmod
3	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	4 commas	amod
4	commas	comma	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Use	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 sentence	case
6	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	7 sentence	det
7	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Use	obl
8	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 writes	nsubj
9	writes	write	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 sentence	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	imperative	you not said here	more commas		every sentence			vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent comma=Patient
2	write	present	he	every sentence not said here					vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sentence=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Use commas only where a rule needs them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Use	use	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	commas	comma	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Use	obj
3	only	only	ADV	_	7 needs	advmod
4	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	7 needs	advmod
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 rule	det
6	rule	rule	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 needs	nsubj
7	needs	need	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Use	advcl
8	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 needs	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	imperative	you not said here	commas					vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent comma=Patient
2	need	present	a rule	commas = comma					vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot they=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/t9/