Test 10 · ★ · Punctuation that changes meaning
A London lad texts "bare jokes!!!" ("Bare" means very, lots of.) Is three exclamation marks OK there?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: London lad, Bare, three exclamation marks · What happens: text, mean, be · To what, where: bare jokes, lots
This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 14 «Punctuation that changes meaning» of the language 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: A London lad texts "bare jokes!!!"
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 lad | det |
| 2 | London | London | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 lad | compound |
| 3 | lad | lad | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 texts | nsubj |
| 4 | texts | text | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 jokes | punct |
| 6 | bare | bare | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 jokes | amod |
| 7 | jokes | joke | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 texts | obj |
| 8 | !!! | !!! | PUNCT | _ | 7 jokes | punct |
| 9 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 jokes | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | text | present | a London lad | bare jokes | tree rules |
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: ("Bare" means very, lots of.)
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 5 means | punct |
| 2 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 Bare | punct |
| 3 | Bare | bare | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 means | nsubj |
| 4 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 Bare | punct |
| 5 | means | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | very | very | ADV | _ | 5 means | advmod |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 lots | punct |
| 8 | lots | lot | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 means | obj |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 lots | nmod |
| 10 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 means | punct |
| 11 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 5 means | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mean | present | Bare | lots | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lot=Topic |
Sentence 3: Is three exclamation marks OK there?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 there | cop |
| 2 | three | three | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 4 marks | nummod |
| 3 | exclamation | exclamation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 marks | compound |
| 4 | marks | mark | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 there | nsubj |
| 5 | OK | ok | ADV | _ | 6 there | advmod |
| 6 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | root | root |
| 7 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 6 there | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | three exclamation marks | there property | tree rules |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Yes, and also in a formal essay
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | yes | INTJ | Polarity=Pos | 8 essay | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Yes | punct |
| 3 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 essay | cc |
| 4 | also | also | ADV | _ | 8 essay | advmod |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 essay | case |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 essay | det |
| 7 | formal | formal | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 essay | amod |
| 8 | essay | essay | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 2 · ✓ the right answer
Yes, in a casual text it shows fun
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | yes | INTJ | Polarity=Pos | 6 text | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 text | punct |
| 3 | in | in | ADP | _ | 6 text | case |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 text | det |
| 5 | casual | casual | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 text | amod |
| 6 | text | text | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 7 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 shows | nsubj |
| 8 | shows | show | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 text | acl:relcl |
| 9 | fun | fun | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 shows | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | show | present | text | fun | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent fun=Recipient |
Option 3
No, texts can never have exclamation marks
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | no | INTJ | Polarity=Neg | 6 have | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 No | punct |
| 3 | texts | text | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 have | nsubj |
| 4 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 6 have | aux |
| 5 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 6 have | advmod |
| 6 | have | have | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 7 | exclamation | exclamation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 marks | compound |
| 8 | marks | mark | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 have | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not have | can | texts | exclamation marks | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mark=Patient |
Option 4
No, it must be a question mark
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | no | INTJ | Polarity=Neg | 8 mark | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 No | punct |
| 3 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 mark | nsubj |
| 4 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 8 mark | aux |
| 5 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 8 mark | cop |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 mark | det |
| 7 | question | question | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 mark | compound |
| 8 | mark | mark | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | must | it | a question mark | tree rules |
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/t10/