---
title: Select the response consistent with established convention concernin… — Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Select the response consistent with established convention concerning parenthesis. Exam question 3 of lesson 36 «Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons and hyphens» 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
---

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# Exam question 3 · Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons and hyphens

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Select the response consistent with established convention concerning parenthesis.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** select, establish · **To what, where:** response

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 36 «Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons and hyphens» 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/36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:e3:1
# text = Select the response consistent with established convention concerning parenthesis.
1	Select	select	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	response	response	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	established	establish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
7	convention	convention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	concerning	concerning	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	parenthesis	parenthesis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **select** | imperative | you *not said here* | the response |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme |
| 2 | **establish** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot |

<!-- .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 must contain the main verb of the sentence

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:e3:o1:1
# text = It must contain the main verb of the sentence
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	contain	contain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	main	main	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	verb	verb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contain** | must | It | the main verb of the sentence |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot verb=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It may be indicated by brackets, dashes or commas

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:e3:o2:1
# text = It may be indicated by brackets, dashes or commas
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	indicated	indicate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	brackets	bracket	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	dashes	dash	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	commas	comma	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **indicate** | may · passive | brackets and dashes or commas | It |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot subject=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It may be indicated solely by brackets

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:e3:o3:1
# text = It may be indicated solely by brackets
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	indicated	indicate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	solely	solely	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	brackets	bracket	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **indicate** | may · passive | brackets | It |  |  |  | solely *property* | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot subject=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It may not be removed without loss of grammaticality

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:e3:o4:1
# text = It may not be removed without loss of grammaticality
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	removed	remove	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	without	without	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	loss	loss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	grammaticality	grammaticality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **remove** | may · passive |  | It |  |  |  | without loss of grammaticality | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

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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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- ← previous: [Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons a…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens/e2/)
- next →: [Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons a…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons and hyphens](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens/)