---
title: «'after lunch we played' is fine, commas are optional innit». What s… — Fronted adverbials · tree and pragmatics
description: «'after lunch we played' is fine, commas are optional innit». What should the pupil do? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 29 «Fronted adverbials» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Test 1 · ★ · Fronted adverbials

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«'after lunch we played' is fine, commas are optional innit». What should the pupil do?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** we, commas, pupil · **What happens:** play, be, do · **To what, where:** optional innit

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 29 «Fronted adverbials» 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/english/29-fronted-adverbials/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «'after lunch we played' is fine, commas are optional innit».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:t1:1
# text = «'after lunch we played' is fine, commas are optional innit».
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	after	after	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	lunch	lunch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	commas	comma	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
12	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	optional	optional	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	innit	innit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** *in a quote* | past | we |  |  |  | after lunch |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | fine *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | commas | optional innit |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What should the pupil do?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:t1:2
# text = What should the pupil do?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	pupil	pupil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | should | the pupil |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Add a comma: «After lunch, we played.»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:t1:o1:1
# text = Add a comma: «After lunch, we played.»
1	Add	add	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	comma	comma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
5	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	After	after	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	lunch	lunch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **add** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* | a comma |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **play** *in a quote* | past | we |  |  |  | after lunch |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Leave it, commas never go after adverbials

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:t1:o2:1
# text = Leave it, commas never go after adverbials
1	Leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	compound	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
4	commas	comma	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	after	after	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	adverbials	adverbial	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | infinitive |  | it |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **go** | present | Leave commas |  |  |  | after adverbials |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Put the comma after «we»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:t1:o3:1
# text = Put the comma after «we»
1	Put	put	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	comma	comma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	after	after	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **put** | imperative | you *not said here* | the comma |  |  | after we |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent comma=Goal |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Change it to a question

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:29-fronted-adverbials:t1:o4:1
# text = Change it to a question
1	Change	change	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  | to a question | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

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**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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