---
title: What would happen if Ahmed took every comma out of "Before eating, t… — Commas: lists, clauses and clarity · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if Ahmed took every comma out of "Before eating, the cat washed its paws"? Test 5 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity/t5/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/) / [Commas: lists, clauses and clarity](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity/) / t5

# Test 5 · Commas: lists, clauses and clarity

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if Ahmed took every comma out of "Before eating, the cat washed its paws"?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Ahmed, cat · **What happens:** happen, take, eat, wash · **To what, where:** comma, paws

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 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/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:t5:1
# text = What would happen if Ahmed took every comma out of "Before eating, the cat washed its paws"?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	Ahmed	Ahmed	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	comma	comma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	out	out	ADP	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	Before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
13	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	washed	wash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
18	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	paws	paw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **take** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Ahmed | every comma |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent comma=Theme |
| 3 | **eat** *in a quote* | gerund | Ahmed *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **wash** *in a quote* | past | the cat | cat's paws |  |  |  |  | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent paw=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
It would become a question

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:t5:o1:1
# text = It would become a question
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | would | It | a question |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, it means exactly the same thing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:t5:o2:1
# text = Nothing, it means exactly the same thing
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Nothing | the same thing |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would become a comma splice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:t5:o3:1
# text = It would become a comma splice
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	comma	comma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	splice	splice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | would | It | a comma splice |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would sound like someone ate the cat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity:t5:o4:1
# text = It would sound like someone ate the cat
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	sound	sound	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	nsubj	_	_
6	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sound** | would | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **eat** | past | someone | the cat |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cat=Patient |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Commas: lists, clauses and clarity, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity/t4/)
- next →: [Commas: lists, clauses and clarity, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity/t6/)
- ↑ back to [Commas: lists, clauses and clarity](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity/)