---
title: Select the response consistent with the established conventions conc… — Punctuation that changes meaning · tree and pragmatics
description: Select the response consistent with the established conventions concerning the sentence "Can I come?.". Exam question 3 of lesson 14 «Punctuation that changes meaning» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's 
---

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# Exam question 3 · Punctuation that changes meaning

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Select the response consistent with the established conventions concerning the sentence "Can I come?.".

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, established conventions, I · **What happens:** select, establish, concern, come · **To what, where:** sentence · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 14 «Punctuation that changes meaning» of the language 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/language/14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:e3:1
# text = Select the response consistent with the established conventions concerning the sentence "Can I come?.".
1	Select	select	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	response	response	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	ccomp	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	established	establish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	amod	_	_
8	conventions	convention	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	Can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **select** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **establish** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **concern** | gerund | the established conventions *not said here* | the sentence |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus sentence=Experiencer |
| 4 | **come** *in a quote* | can | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A further question mark is required

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:e3:o1:1
# text = A further question mark is required
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	further	further	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	mark	mark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	required	require	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **require** | present · passive |  | a further question mark |  |  |  |  | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Precondition |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The question mark ought to be replaced by a comma

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:e3:o2:1
# text = The question mark ought to be replaced by a comma
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	mark	mark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	replaced	replace	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	comma	comma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **replace** | ought · passive | a comma | the question mark |  |  |  |  | vn substitute-13.6.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme subject=Co-Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The full stop is superfluous, the question mark already concluding the sentence

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:e3:o3:1
# text = The full stop is superfluous, the question mark already concluding the sentence
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	stop	stop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	superfluous	superfluous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	mark	mark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
10	already	already	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	concluding	conclude	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	acl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the full stop |  |  |  |  | superfluous *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **conclude** | gerund | the question mark *not said here* | the sentence |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sentence=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The sentence is correctly punctuated

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:e3:o4:1
# text = The sentence is correctly punctuated
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	correctly	correctly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	punctuated	punctuate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **punctuate** | present · passive |  | the sentence |  |  |  | correctly *property* | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: subject=Destination |

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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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