---
title: What would happen if we wrote lists with no commas at all? — Grammar puzzles, part one · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if we wrote lists with no commas at all? Test 5 · ★★ of lesson 11 «Grammar puzzles, part one» of the language 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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# Test 5 · ★★ · Grammar puzzles, part one

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if we wrote lists with no commas at all?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** we · **What happens:** happen, write · **To what, where:** lists

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★★ of lesson 11 «Grammar puzzles, part one» of the language 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/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:t5:1
# text = What would happen if we wrote lists with no commas at all?
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	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	wrote	write	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	lists	list	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	10	det	_	_
10	commas	comma	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	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 | **write** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | we | lists |  |  |  | with no commas at all | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent list=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
Every list would become a question

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:t5:o1:1
# text = Every list would become a question
1	Every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	list	list	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	xcomp	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lists would become longer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:t5:o2:1
# text = Lists would become longer
1	Lists	list	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Some lists would accidentally say odd things, like cooking your dog

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:t5:o3:1
# text = Some lists would accidentally say odd things, like cooking your dog
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	2	det	_	_
2	lists	list	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	accidentally	accidentally	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	odd	odd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	like	like	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	cooking	cook	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
11	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | would | some lists | odd things |  |  |  | accidentally *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent thing=Topic |
| 2 | **cook** | gerund | some lists *not said here* | your dog |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent dog=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, because commas never change what a sentence means

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:11-grammar-puzzles-part-one:t5:o4:1
# text = Nothing, because commas never change what a sentence means
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	commas	comma	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	change	change	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	10	obj	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **change** | present | commas |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **mean** | present | a sentence |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=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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- ← previous: [Grammar puzzles, part one, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/t4/)
- next →: [Grammar puzzles, part one, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/t6/)
- ↑ back to [Grammar puzzles, part one](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/)