--- title: Your cousin writes "What time is it?." Which is right? — Punctuation that changes meaning · tree and pragmatics description: Your cousin writes "What time is it?." Which is right? Test 8 · ★ 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 right. --- [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/t8/) [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/) / t8 # Test 8 · ★ · Punctuation that changes meaning Your cousin writes "What time is it?." Which is right? **Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** cousin · **What happens:** write, time, be · **To what, where:** cousin This is test 8 · ★ 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/#t8). ## The question {#question} *Sentence 1:* Your cousin writes "What time is it?." ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t8:1 # text = Your cousin writes "What time is it?." 1 Your your PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 2 nmod:poss _ _ 2 cousin cousin NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 writes write VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 " " PUNCT `` _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 What what DET WDT PronType=Int 6 det _ _ 6 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ _ 7 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 8 cop _ _ 8 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 ? ? PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 10 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 " " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **write** | present | Your cousin | | | | | | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **time** *in a quote* | | cousin | | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | | cousin | | | | | tree rules | 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. *Sentence 2:* Which is right? ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t8:2 # text = Which is right? 1 Which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 3 nsubj _ _ 2 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 cop _ _ 3 right right ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 4 ? ? PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | present | | | | | | right *property* | tree rules | ## The options {#options} ### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1} What time is it? ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t8:o1:1 # text = What time is it? 1 What what DET WDT PronType=Int 2 det _ _ 2 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 is be VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 expl _ SpaceAfter=No 5 ? ? PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **be** | present | what time | it | | | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ### Option 2 {#o2} What time is it!. ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t8:o2:1 # text = What time is it!. 1 What what DET WDT PronType=Int 2 det _ _ 2 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 3 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 4 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 5 !. !. PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | present | what time | it | | | | | tree rules | ### Option 3 {#o3} What time is it.? ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t8:o3:1 # text = What time is it.? 1 What what DET WDT PronType=Int 2 det _ _ 2 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 3 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 4 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 5 .? .? PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | present | what time | it | | | | | tree rules | ### Option 4 {#o4} What time is it?. ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning:t8:o4:1 # text = What time is it?. 1 What what DET WDT PronType=Int 2 det _ _ 2 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 is be VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 expl _ SpaceAfter=No 5 ? ? PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **be** | present | what time | it | | | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | **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. 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