---
title: Ascertain the number of full stops constituting an ellipsis. — Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the number of full stops constituting an ellipsis. Exam question 4 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 was wrong.
---

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# Exam question 4 · Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons and hyphens

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the number of full stops constituting an ellipsis.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, stop, constitute · **To what, where:** number, ellipsis

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This is exam question 4 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/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the number of full stops constituting an ellipsis.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	stops	stop	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	constituting	constitute	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	xcomp	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	ellipsis	ellipsis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	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 number |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=Topic |
| 2 | **stop** | present | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **constitute** | gerund | you *not said here* | a ellipsis |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme ellipsis=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 -->
two

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:e4:o1:1
# text = two
1	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
three

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:e4:o2:1
# text = three
1	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
seven

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:e4:o3:1
# text = seven
1	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
four

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:e4:o4:1
# text = four
1	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens/e3/)
- next →: [Paragraphs and cohesion: holding a tex…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/37-paragraphs-and-cohesion-holding-a-text-together/t1/)
- ↑ 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/)