---
title: Ascertain the correctly punctuated version of a sentence containing… — Commas: lists, clauses and clarity · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the correctly punctuated version of a sentence containing a non-essential relative clause. Exam question 4 of lesson 33 «Commas: lists, clauses and clarity» of the English course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's ch
---

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# Exam question 4 · Commas: lists, clauses and clarity

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the correctly punctuated version of a sentence containing a non-essential relative clause.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, sentence · **What happens:** ascertain, punctuate, contain · **To what, where:** punctuated version, non-essential relative clause

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 33 «Commas: lists, clauses and clarity» of the English 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/english/33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the correctly punctuated version of a sentence containing a non-essential relative clause.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	correctly	correctly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	punctuated	punctuate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
5	version	version	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	containing	contain	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
11	non-essential	non-essential	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
12	relative	relative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	clause	clause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the punctuated version of a sentence |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent version=Topic |
| 2 | **punctuate** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | correctly *property* | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **contain** | gerund | a sentence *not said here* | a non-essential relative clause |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |

<!-- .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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
My uncle who lives in Cork, sings.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:e4:o1:1
# text = My uncle who lives in Cork, sings.
1	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	lives	live	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Cork	Cork	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
8	sings	sing	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | present | My uncle |  |  | Cork |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cork=Location |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | present | My uncle |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
My uncle, who lives in Cork, sings.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:e4:o2:1
# text = My uncle, who lives in Cork, sings.
1	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	lives	live	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Cork	Cork	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
9	sings	sing	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | present | My uncle |  |  | Cork |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cork=Location |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | present | My uncle |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
My uncle, who lives in Cork sings.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:e4:o3:1
# text = My uncle, who lives in Cork sings.
1	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	lives	live	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Cork	Cork	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
8	sings	sing	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | present | My uncle |  |  | Cork |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cork=Location |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | present | My uncle |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
My, uncle who lives in Cork sings.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:e4:o4:1
# text = My, uncle who lives in Cork sings.
1	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	lives	live	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Cork	Cork	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
8	sings	sing	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | present | My uncle |  |  | Cork |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cork=Location |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | present | My uncle |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location |

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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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