---
title: What would happen if the hyphen fell out of "man-eating shark"? — Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons a… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if the hyphen fell out of "man-eating shark"? Test 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 right.
---

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# Test 4 · ★★★ · Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons and hyphens

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if the hyphen fell out of "man-eating shark"?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** hyphen · **What happens:** happen, fall, eat · **To what, where:** eating shark

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★★★ 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:t4:1
# text = What would happen if the hyphen fell out of "man-eating shark"?
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	_	7	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	hyphen	hyphen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	out	out	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
10	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	amod	_	_
14	shark	shark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	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 | **fall** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the hyphen |  |  | eating shark |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme out shark=Location |
| 3 | **eat** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It could mean a man eating a shark

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:t4:o1:1
# text = It could mean a man eating a shark
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	shark	shark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | could | It | a man |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Topic |
| 2 | **eat** | gerund | a man *not said here* | a shark |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shark=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would still mean exactly the same

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:t4:o2:1
# text = It would still mean exactly the same
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	still	still	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | would | It |  |  |  | still | same *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would mean the shark is a man

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:t4:o3:1
# text = It would mean the shark is a man
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	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	shark	shark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | would | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present | the shark | a man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would mean a shark eating a man's dinner

```conllu
# sent_id = question:english:36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens:t4:o4:1
# text = It would mean a shark eating a man's dinner
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	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	shark	shark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | would | It | a shark |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shark=Topic |
| 2 | **eat** | gerund | a shark *not said here* | a man's dinner |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dinner=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 -->

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- ← previous: [Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons a…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens/t3/)
- next →: [Brackets, dashes, colons, semicolons a…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens/t5/)
- ↑ 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/)