--- title: A comma is a tiny signpost that tells the reader where one part of a… — Commas: lists, clauses and clarity · tree and pragmatics description: A comma is a tiny signpost that tells the reader where one part of a sentence ends and the next begins, so the words are grouped the way you meant. Who acts: comma, tiny signpost, one part, next. A sentence of the lesson «Commas: lists, clauses and clarity» of the english course of Mova's primary sc --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity/0/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/) / [Commas: lists, clauses and clarity](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity/) / 0 # Commas: lists, clauses and clarity, sentence 0 A comma is a tiny signpost that tells the reader where one part of a sentence ends and the next begins, so the words are grouped the way you meant. **Who acts:** comma, tiny signpost, one part, next, you · **What happens:** be, tell, end, begin, group, mean · **To what, where:** tiny signpost, reader, words, way · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of the lesson «Commas: lists, clauses and clarity» of the english course of Mova's primary school. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (comma, tiny signpost, one part, next), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = school:english:033-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity.lesson:0 # text = A comma is a tiny signpost that tells the reader where one part of a sentence ends and the next begins, so the words are grouped the way you meant. # source = school lesson (ours) # course = english # lesson = 033-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity.lesson # annotation = Mova annot: Rust (en) → Haiku 5.5 (medium, Batches API) patches; gates UD 2.18; agreed by treeagree rules (Stanza, Trankit, spaCy trf): R1-cc-next ×1, R7-rel-agree ×2 1 A a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 comma comma NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 3 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 tiny tiny ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 signpost signpost NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 7 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 8 nsubj _ _ 8 tells tell VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 acl:relcl _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 reader reader NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 iobj _ Agree=R7-rel-agree|Haiku=8:obj 11 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 17 advmod _ _ 12 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 13 nummod _ _ 13 part part NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ _ 14 of of ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 sentence sentence NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nmod _ _ 17 ends end VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 10 acl:relcl _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ Agree=R1-cc-next|Haiku=17:cc 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 next next ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 nsubj _ _ 21 begins begin VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 17 conj _ _ 22 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 23 so so ADV RB _ 27 advmod _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 nsubj:pass _ _ 26 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux:pass _ _ 27 grouped group VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 parataxis _ Agree=R7-rel-agree|Haiku=6:conj 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obj _ _ 30 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 31 meant mean VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 acl:relcl _ _ 32 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} No stored speech act for this sentence. | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | present | a comma | a tiny signpost | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | a tiny signpost | | the reader | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent reader=Recipient | | 3 | **end** | present | one part of a sentence | | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | | 4 | **begin** | present | the next | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | | 5 | **group** | present · passive | | the words | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **mean** | past | you | the way *not said here* | | | | | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Topic | 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. **Licence: [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)**, as the whole of Mova corpus 0.4, of which this treebank (the agreed school, `mova-school-agreed-en.conllu`) is part. The lessons were written for Mova's primary school. Sentence `school:english:033-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity.lesson:0`. **The tree:** Mova annot: Rust (en) → Haiku 5.5 (medium, Batches API) patches; gates UD 2.18; agreed by treeagree rules (Stanza, Trankit, spaCy trf): R1-cc-next ×1, R7-rel-agree ×2. **The frames** are read from the tree by Mova's frames reader (`prag`) when this page is built, the lesson read in order, so a pronoun may be resolved from an earlier sentence. See the [release 0.4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/releases/0.4/). - ← previous: [Active and passive voice, modal verbs, 19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/32-active-and-passive-voice-modal-verbs/19/) - next →: [Commas: lists, clauses and clarity, 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity/1/) - ↑ back to [the lesson](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/33-commas-lists-clauses-and-clarity/)