---
title: In a cartoon, a sign says "Slow children crossing." What comma would… — Commas: lists, clauses and clarity · tree and pragmatics
description: In a cartoon, a sign says "Slow children crossing." What comma would stop the joke? Test 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 choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 4 · Commas: lists, clauses and clarity

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a cartoon, a sign says "Slow children crossing." What comma would stop the joke?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** sign, Slow children, comma · **What happens:** say, cross, stop · **To what, where:** cartoon, joke · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 of lesson 33 «Commas: lists, clauses and clarity» 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/33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a cartoon, a sign says "Slow children crossing."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:t4:1
# text = In a cartoon, a sign says "Slow children crossing."
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	ccomp	_	_
11	crossing	cross	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a sign |  |  | a cartoon |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent in cartoon=Manner |
| 2 | **cross** *in a quote* | gerund | Slow children *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What comma would stop the joke?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:t4:2
# text = What comma would stop the joke?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	comma	comma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | would | comma | the joke |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Slow, children crossing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:t4:o1:1
# text = Slow, children crossing
1	Slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
4	crossing	cross	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cross** | gerund | Slow children *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Slow children, crossing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:t4:o2:1
# text = Slow children, crossing
1	Slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	crossing	crossing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cross** |  | Slow children |  |  |  |  |  | nom crossing «act transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Slow children crossing,

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:t4:o3:1
# text = Slow children crossing,
1	Slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	crossing	cross	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cross** | gerund | Slow children |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No comma can change it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:t4:o4:1
# text = No comma can change it
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	comma	comma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | can | no comma | it |  |  |  |  | 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.

<!-- /div -->

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