---
title: What would happen if a recipe had no punctuation? "Add salt pepper t… — Punctuation that changes meaning · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a recipe had no punctuation? "Add salt pepper the onion stir" Test 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 choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 3 · ★ · Punctuation that changes meaning

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a recipe had no punctuation? "Add salt pepper the onion stir"

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** recipe, you · **What happens:** happen, have, add · **To what, where:** punctuation, salt pepper

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ 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/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* What would happen if a recipe had no punctuation? "

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t3:1
# text = What would happen if a recipe had no punctuation? "
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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	recipe	recipe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
9	punctuation	punctuation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

<!-- .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 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a recipe | no punctuation |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent punctuation=Patient |

<!-- .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:* Add salt pepper the onion stir"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t3:2
# text = Add salt pepper the onion stir"
1	Add	add	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	pepper	pepper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	onion	onion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	stir	stir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **add** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* | salt pepper |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You might not know where steps end or what is listed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t3:o1:1
# text = You might not know where steps end or what is listed
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	7	advmod	_	_
6	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	end	end	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	conj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	listed	list	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **know** | might | You |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **end** | present | steps |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **list** | present · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cake would bake faster

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t3:o2:1
# text = The cake would bake faster
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cake	cake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	bake	bake	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bake** | would | the cake |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, because recipes never need any punctuation at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t3:o3:1
# text = Nothing, because recipes never need any punctuation at all
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	recipes	recipe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
7	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
8	punctuation	punctuation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **need** | present | recipes | any punctuation |  | all |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot punctuation=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would become a poem

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t3:o4:1
# text = It would become a poem
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	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	poem	poem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	xcomp	_	_
```

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

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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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