---
title: Ascertain the correctly punctuated form of the notice. — The apostrophe war · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the correctly punctuated form of the notice. Exam question 4 of lesson 15 «The apostrophe war» 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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# Exam question 4 · The apostrophe war

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the correctly punctuated form of the notice.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, punctuate, form · **To what, where:** punctuated form, notice

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 15 «The apostrophe war» 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/15-the-apostrophe-war/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the correctly punctuated form of the notice.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	correctly	correctly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	punctuated	punctuate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
5	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	notice	notice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the punctuated form of the notice |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent form=Topic |
| 2 | **punctuate** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | correctly *property* | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **form** |  |  | the notice |  |  |  |  | nom form «communication transitive»: of=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Men's' toilets

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:e4:o1:1
# text = Men's' toilets
1	Men	Men	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	'	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
4	toilets	toilet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mens' toilets

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:e4:o2:1
# text = Mens' toilets
1	Mens	men	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	toilets	toilet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mens toilets

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:e4:o3:1
# text = Mens toilets
1	Mens	men	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	compound	_	_
2	toilets	toilet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Men's toilets

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:15-the-apostrophe-war:e4:o4:1
# text = Men's toilets
1	Men	Men	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	toilets	toilet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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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- ← previous: [The apostrophe war, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/e3/)
- next →: [Formal and informal: a mate versus the…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/t1/)
- ↑ back to [The apostrophe war](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/)