---
title: A London lad texts "bare jokes!!!" ("Bare" means very, lots of.) Is… — Punctuation that changes meaning · tree and pragmatics
description: A London lad texts "bare jokes!!!" ("Bare" means very, lots of.) Is three exclamation marks OK there? Test 10 · ★ 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 choice
---

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# Test 10 · ★ · Punctuation that changes meaning

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A London lad texts "bare jokes!!!" ("Bare" means very, lots of.) Is three exclamation marks OK there?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** London lad, Bare, three exclamation marks · **What happens:** text, mean, be · **To what, where:** bare jokes, lots

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 14 «Punctuation that changes meaning» 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/14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning/#t10).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A London lad texts "bare jokes!!!"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t10:1
# text = A London lad texts "bare jokes!!!"
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	London	London	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	lad	lad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	texts	text	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	jokes	joke	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	!!!	!!!	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **text** | present | a London lad | bare jokes |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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:* ("Bare" means very, lots of.)

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t10:2
# text = ("Bare" means very, lots of.)
1	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
5	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	lots	lot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Bare | lots |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lot=Topic |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* Is three exclamation marks OK there?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t10:3
# text = Is three exclamation marks OK there?
1	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
3	exclamation	exclamation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	marks	mark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	OK	ok	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | three exclamation marks |  |  |  |  | there *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, and also in a formal essay

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t10:o1:1
# text = Yes, and also in a formal essay
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
4	also	also	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	formal	formal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	essay	essay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, in a casual text it shows fun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t10:o2:1
# text = Yes, in a casual text it shows fun
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	casual	casual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	text	text	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	fun	fun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | text | fun |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent fun=Recipient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, texts can never have exclamation marks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t10:o3:1
# text = No, texts can never have exclamation marks
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	texts	text	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	exclamation	exclamation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	marks	mark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **have** | can | texts | exclamation marks |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mark=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, it must be a question mark

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t10:o4:1
# text = No, it must be a question mark
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
4	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	mark	mark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | must | it | a question mark |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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