---
title: Your little brother writes "Help me, Tom!" and "Help me Tom!" in two… — Punctuation that changes meaning · tree and pragmatics
description: Your little brother writes "Help me, Tom!" and "Help me Tom!" in two stories. In which one is he talking to Tom? Test 5 · ★ 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; Mov
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning/t5/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/) / [Punctuation that changes meaning](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning/) / t5

# Test 5 · ★ · Punctuation that changes meaning

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Your little brother writes "Help me, Tom!" and "Help me Tom!" in two stories. In which one is he talking to Tom?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** little brother, brother · **What happens:** write, help, talk · **To what, where:** two stories, me, Tom · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ 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/#t5).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Your little brother writes "Help me, Tom!" and "Help me Tom!" in two stories.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t5:1
# text = Your little brother writes "Help me, Tom!" and "Help me Tom!" in two stories.
1	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	writes	write	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	Help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
15	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
21	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | present | Your little brother |  |  | two stories |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **help** *in a quote* | infinitive | Your little brother *not said here* | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **help** *in a quote* | infinitive | Your little brother *not said here* | me |  |  |  |  | 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:* In which one is he talking to Tom?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t5:2
# text = In which one is he talking to Tom?
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	3	det	_	_
3	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | present · progressive | brother |  | Tom |  |  | in which one | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to tom=Co-Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Neither

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t5:o1:1
# text = Neither
1	Neither	neither	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Help me Tom!

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t5:o2:1
# text = Help me Tom!
1	Help	help	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | imperative | you *not said here* | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Help me, Tom!

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t5:o3:1
# text = Help me, Tom!
1	Help	help	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | imperative | you *not said here* |  | me |  |  | Tom *vocative* | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Beneficiary |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Both equally

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t5:o4:1
# text = Both equally
1	Both	both	CCONJ	CC	_	2	cc:preconj	_	_
2	equally	equally	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
```

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

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Punctuation that changes meaning, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning/t4/)
- next →: [Punctuation that changes meaning, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning/t6/)
- ↑ back to [Punctuation that changes meaning](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning/)