Exam question 2 · Punctuation that changes meaning

Identify the principal defect of the sentence "I like cake I like ice cream I like jelly".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, I · What happens: identify, like · To what, where: principal defect, cake, ice cream, jelly · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 14 «Punctuation that changes meaning» of the language 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 defect	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 defect	amod
4	defect	defect	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 sentence	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sentence	det
7	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 defect	nmod
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 like	punct
9	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	10 like	nsubj
10	like	like	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	parataxis
11	cake	cake	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 like	obj
12	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	13 like	nsubj
13	like	like	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 like	conj
14	ice	ice	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 cream	compound
15	cream	cream	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 like	obj
16	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	17 like	nsubj
17	like	like	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 like	conj
18	jelly	jelly	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 like	obj
19	"	"	PUNCT	_	17 like	punct
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal defect of the sentence	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent defect=Theme clause=Attribute
2	like in a quote	present	I	cake	vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot cake=Theme
3	like in a quote	present	I	ice cream	vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot cream=Theme
4	like in a quote	present	I	jelly	vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot jelly=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 · ✓ the right answer

It joins complete sentences without appropriate punctuation

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	complete	complete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 sentences	amod
4	sentences	sentence	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 joins	obj
5	without	without	ADP	_	7 punctuation	case
6	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 punctuation	amod
7	punctuation	punctuation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 joins	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	join	present	It	complete sentences				without appropriate punctuation	vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sentence=Patient

Option 2

It contains no verb and therefore cannot form a complete sentence

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 contains	nsubj
2	contains	contain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 verb	det
4	verb	verb	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 contains	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 form	cc
6	therefore	therefore	ADV	_	9 form	advmod
7	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 form	aux
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 form	advmod
9	form	form	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 contains	conj
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 sentence	det
11	complete	complete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 sentence	amod
12	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 form	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	contain	present	It	no verb					vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot verb=Theme
2	not form	can		a complete sentence				therefore property	vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location sentence=Theme

Option 3

It is excessively brief

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	4 brief	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 brief	cop
3	excessively	excessively	ADV	_	4 brief	advmod
4	brief	brief	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					brief, excessively property	tree rules

Option 4

It employs an incorrect tense

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 employs	nsubj
2	employs	employ	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 tense	det
4	incorrect	incorrect	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 tense	amod
5	tense	tense	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 employs	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	present	It	a incorrect tense					vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tense=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/language/14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning/e2/