Test 7 · ★★★ · Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons and hyphens
Nan in Belfast, dry: "You need three things, love: coat, hat, and stop moaning." What does the colon do?
Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: You, colon · What happens: need, stop, moan, do · To what, where: three things
This is test 7 · ★★★ of lesson 36 «Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons and hyphens» 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: Nan in Belfast, dry: "You need three things, love: coat, hat, and stop moaning."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nan | Nan | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 dry | nsubj |
| 2 | in | in | ADP | _ | 3 Belfast | case |
| 3 | Belfast | Belfast | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 Nan | nmod |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 dry | punct |
| 5 | dry | dry | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 6 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 9 need | punct |
| 7 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 9 need | punct |
| 8 | You | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 9 need | nsubj |
| 9 | need | need | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 dry | parataxis |
| 10 | three | three | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 11 things | nummod |
| 11 | things | thing | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 need | obj |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 love | punct |
| 13 | love | love | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 things | vocative |
| 14 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 15 coat | punct |
| 15 | coat | coat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 things | appos |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 hat | punct |
| 17 | hat | hat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 coat | conj |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 stop | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 20 stop | cc |
| 20 | stop | stop | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 need | conj |
| 21 | moaning | moan | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 20 stop | xcomp |
| 22 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 dry | punct |
| 23 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 5 dry | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | need in a quote | present | You | three things | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot thing=Theme | ||||
| 2 | stop in a quote | infinitive | You not said here | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 3 | moan in a quote | gerund | You not said here | vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
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 does the colon do?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 5 do | obj |
| 2 | does | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 do | aux |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 colon | det |
| 4 | colon | colon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 do | nsubj |
| 5 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 6 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 5 do | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | do | present · do-support | the colon | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
The options
Option 1
It ends Nan's question
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 ends | nsubj |
| 2 | ends | end | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | Nan | Nan | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 question | nmod:poss |
| 4 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 3 Nan | case |
| 5 | question | question | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 ends | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | end | present | It | Nan's question | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality question=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | question | Nan | nom question «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
Option 2 · ✓ the right answer
It introduces the list after a full clause
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 introduces | nsubj |
| 2 | introduces | introduce | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 list | det |
| 4 | list | list | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 introduces | obj |
| 5 | after | after | ADP | _ | 8 clause | case |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 clause | det |
| 7 | full | full | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 clause | amod |
| 8 | clause | clause | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 introduces | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | introduce | present | It | the list | after a full clause | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent list=Patient |
Option 3
It shows missing letters in "love"
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 | missing | missing | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 letters | amod |
| 4 | letters | letter | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 shows | obj |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 7 love | case |
| 6 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 love | punct |
| 7 | love | love | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 shows | obl |
| 8 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 love | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | show | present | It | missing letters | in love | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent letter=Patient in love=Topic |
Option 4 · ← Mova's choice
It joins two words into one word
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 joins | nsubj |
| 2 | joins | join | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 4 words | nummod |
| 4 | words | word | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 joins | obj |
| 5 | into | into | ADP | _ | 7 word | case |
| 6 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 7 word | nummod |
| 7 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 joins | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | join | present | It | two words | into one word | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent word=Patient into word=Co-Patient |
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/36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens/t7/