---
title: In a cartoon, a villain's note says "Meet me at the dock... alone."… — Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons a… · tree and pragmatics
description: In a cartoon, a villain's note says "Meet me at the dock... alone." Why the three dots? Test 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 choi
---

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# Test 3 · ★★★ · Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons and hyphens

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a cartoon, a villain's note says "Meet me at the dock... alone." Why the three dots?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** note, villain · **What happens:** say, meet, note · **To what, where:** cartoon, note, dock · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★★★ of lesson 36 «Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons and hyphens» 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/36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a cartoon, a villain's note says "Meet me at the dock... alone."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:t3:1
# text = In a cartoon, a villain's note says "Meet me at the dock... alone."
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	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	villain	villain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	note	note	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	Meet	meet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
12	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	dock	dock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	...	...	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a villain's note |  |  | a cartoon |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **meet** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | a villain's note *= note* |  | the dock |  | alone *property* | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **note** |  | a villain |  |  |  |  |  | nom note «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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:* Why the three dots?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:t3:2
# text = Why the three dots?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	dots	dot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They show the villain forgot a word

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:t3:o1:1
# text = They show the villain forgot a word
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	show	show	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	villain	villain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	forgot	forget	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **forget** | past | the villain | a word |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They show that "alone" is a list

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:t3:o2:1
# text = They show that "alone" is a list
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	show	show	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	alone	alone	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	list	list	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present |  | a alone list |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They build suspense before "alone"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:t3:o3:1
# text = They build suspense before "alone"
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	build	build	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	suspense	suspense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | present | They | suspense |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset suspense=Product |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are decoration, they mean nothing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:t3:o4:1
# text = They are decoration, they mean nothing
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	decoration	decoration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
7	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | They | decoration |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **mean** | present | they | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Topic |

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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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