A Guide to Typing Tests, Tapping Tests and Memrise Punctuation

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Hi All - There’s recently been some changes to Memrise Punctuation and how it behaves.

We’ve compiled a summary explaining the changes, and how punctuation currently works on Memrise :slight_smile:

How to Use This Guide

Each point will provide a description on how the punctuation works, and then an example of what you need to do to gain a correct answer (when answering a test.) This can be used by someone who wants more information on how to gain said correct answer, or by a course creator who wants to structure their course in a certain way.

1. In courses, Commas (,) are sometimes used to separate words.

Example: “Salut, je m’appelle”
Translation: “Hi, my name is”

“Salut, je m’appelle" needs to be entered in full (including the comma) for it to be considered a correct answer.

2. Parentheses (brackets) allow you to add optional words. Anything in a parentheses is optional.

Example: “I love (Memrise)” >>> Both “I love” and “I love Memrise” will be accepted and considered correct answers.

3. Ellipses (…) are only required when they are placed in the middle of a sentence.

Example:

This means you will only receive an incorrect answer if the Ellipses has been placed in the middle of a sentence, and you have left it out. All other cases will be accepted, gaining you a correct answer.

4. in Tapping Tests, Semicolons and Slashes ( ; / ) allow you to change the order of words when answering a test, but no more than 4 words (4 words or less and the order of the word does not matter). In Typing Tests, Semicolons and Slashes give you the possibility of answering with 1 word to gain a correct answer.

Example: “Hi/Hey/Hello”

Tapping Tests: “Hey/Hello/Hi” is considered a correct answer (although they are in a different order) along with any other variations of those 3 words. This means you need to include all of the words, but regardless of order.

Typing Tests: Alongside the answers that would be accepted in Tapping Tests, Typing Tests will also accept “Hey”, “Hello” or “Hi” as standalone answers. Essentially as long as you answer with 1 of the options, then it will be marked as correct.

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5. ¿¡Punctuation marks!? will be ignored when answering a test (unless the course has been marked strict by the course creator). There is no way to see if a course has been marked as strict.

Example: “¿qué pasa?” will be accepted with no punctuation. I.e. “que pasa” will be accepted as a correct answer.

6. Regarding Hyphens and Apostrophes, we do not take them into consideration during tests.

Example: “Mi-a j’ai” >>> “mia jai” will be considered a correct answer.

7. We don’t allow any other type of punctuation in answers.

Example: “Chocolate” >>> ”Chocol?!ate” will be marked as incorrect.

We hope this helps to clarify things, and provide you with answers on how the above punctuation will behave in courses.

http://feedback.memrise.com/knowledgebase/articles/1104374-a-guide-to-typing-tests-tapping-tests-and-memrise

Happy Learning,

Memrise Team.

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note for typing courses: in languages using accents/diacritics (such as Spanish, Portuguese, etc) the xxx;yyy asks for strict typing, the semicolon does not make the job… therefore use xxx ; yyyy

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MemriseMatty, thanks for the info. I like to use commas to separate words within one definition of a word (words that, as a group, clarify the meaning) and semicolons to separate different meanings of a word. So, I am wondering what happens if I keep using this method, but put a version in Alt with semicolons between each word. For example, say I have to sit down, to be seated; to board and I put to sit down; to be seated; to board in Alt. What answers will be accepted in tapping and in typing tests?

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Hi @MemriseMatty,

Thanks for the helpful explanation above.

There is still one problem regarding the vexed issue of commas, though. You explain how they are treated when used to separate words in sentences but there is still the problem of when they have been used to separate alternative definitions, synonyms, etc. I know that some course creators have now gone to a lot of effort to edit these entries but, where they still exist, our previously correct answers are still being marked as incorrect.

A simple example can be found in Level 7 of A1 Spanish. The second item is “un, una” for “a”. Since Memrise made the change to the treatment of commas, it is now necessary (in typing tests) to type “un, una” to avoid a ‘red’ incorrect. There are 1705 items in the 82 levels of this course but there are only 8 items affected by the comma ‘problem’ in this way. They appear in levels 3 (1), 7 (1), 17 (2), 18 (3) and 60(1). It’s difficult to remember that these 8 items require special treatment on the occasions when they come up for review because there are no clues to tell you that you need to give both answers. Could you replace the commas with semicolons or slashes (as per your Para 4 above) please?

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Hi @alanh :slight_smile: As you may know, all official Memrise A1 and A2 courses are no longer supported, and have been replaced by the new 1-7 courses. The new courses have punctuation adhering to the above.

People can still access A1 course, but it’s highly likely they will contain bugs or inconsistency’s. We would ask everyone switch over to the new courses. I also assume it is not just A1 Spanish that has remnants of the old punctuation. It would be un-realistic for us to consistently update courses that are no longer supported, when we offer official courses that are actively managed by Memrise team members.

You also mentioned:

There is still one problem regarding the vexed issue of commas, though. You explain how they are treated when used to separate words in sentences but there is still the problem of when they have been used to separate alternative definitions, synonyms, etc. I know that some course creators have now gone to a lot of effort to edit these entries but, where they still exist, our previously correct answers are still being marked as incorrect.

The commas still work to separate words, but you would need (as mentioned by yourself) to remember to include them within the answers. Another solution could be to ignore the items affected, allowing you to continue with the old course without defect.

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Hi @MemriseMatty, would you mind explaining more what the part about four words means? I’m not really getting what you mean.

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Hi @MemriseMatty
what should I do if a question needs many answers in any order.
A and B and C and D, etc
not
A or B or C or D

I don’t want to use alternatives, because many answers are required, like here (this is a medical course about diagnostic criteria and scores used to evaluate diseases, etc.)

The course is private, but maybe the team can see it?

Unfortunately, for the time being, memrise is set to accept only one answer (even multiple choice questions are in fact unique choice questions) :sob: (I am frustrated)

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Hi @MemriseMatty, would you mind explaining more what the part about four words means? I’m not really getting what you mean.

@neoncube This statement relates to the following:

Example: “Hi/Hey/Hello”

Tapping Tests: “Hey/Hello/Hi” is considered a correct answer (although they are in a different order) along with any other variations of those 3 words. This means you need to include all of the words, but regardless of order.

So because the example only has 3 words, you can change the order and the answer will still be accepted. If this example was

“Hi/Hey/Hello/Yo/Whatsup”

You would have to answer with the order exactly as it is (because there are more than 4 words). I hope this helps.

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@RobertKnight8a

MemriseMatty, thanks for the info. I like to use commas to separate words within one definition of a word (words that, as a group, clarify the meaning) and semicolons to separate different meanings of a word. So, I am wondering what happens if I keep using this method, but put a version in Alt with semicolons between each word. For example, say I have to sit down, to be seated; to board and I put to sit down; to be seated; to board in Alt. What answers will be accepted in tapping and in typing tests?

It seems like you are using different punctuation in one answer ( , ; ) . We would try and steer away from doing this and aim to keep things as simple as possible :slight_smile: . If you were to take the time adding alt answers, it would probably be worth re-structuring some of your course instead. i.e. instead of… to sit down, to be seated; to board maybe try to sit down (to be seated, to board) << The brackets are optional, so the user would only need to answer to sit down.

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Thanks for the reply. I do it they way I do because I get a better feeling for the meaning of the word that way and it makes words easier to learn. You did not answer my question. What is the behavior of the program if I put the words in Alt with semi-colons? Thanks.

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Are things like semicolons and parentheses supposed to work in the manner explained here when strict typing is turned on as well? Because I changed my course to strict typing and they stopped working for me. I tried making up for this using Alts, but in the Alts field the underscore (_) doesn’t work properly either. It does hide the answer as it said it would, but it will not accept the answer after it as correct, instead you have to actually include the underscore in your answer for it to be marked correctly. For example, if I put “_answer” in the Alts field it would mark “answer” as incorrect in typing tests, but mark “_answer” as correct. Tapping tests have broken for me completely since turning strict typing on, so I’m not sure if they’re also affected by this as well. I posted more about these problems with screenshots here: Alts not being accepted as correct answer?

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they definitely do NOT work as described above in strict typing courses (I don’t have any others, and no leasure to create one to test atm…)

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I tried to use semicolon and slash between the words without leaving space and leaving spaces, but it’s not working, when I try the tests I’m required to tap or type ALL the words AND in order.

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@Fida_Fida94, one of two things may be happening here.

First, if the course is set to “strict,” you’ll have to use all the punctuation listed, so double check whether that box is checked (I’m assuming based on your wording that this is your own course, but if it’s not, perhaps try asking the course creator if they’re on the forums). You’ll find the box on the edit levels page by clicking the pencil to edit one of the columns, then going to the second tab. If the “mark typing strictly” box is checked, uncheck it, and your problem should resolve:

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Another possibility is that you may be waiting for the website or app to automatically mark your answer as correct before hitting enter/return or the “check” button. The automatic green will only happen if you type out exactly what appears in the word list; however, if you enter an accepted correct answer and then hit enter/return or “check,” the site/app will still mark your answer as correct. That is, if the definition of a word is “to return; to go back,” the app/site will automatically mark your answer as correct when you type “to return to go back” or “to return; to go back,” but if you type in either “to return” or “to go back” and then press enter/return or “check,” you’ll also be marked correct.

If neither of these answers your question, you may have found a bug and should head over to the appropriate bug report forum with some screenshots to let the staff know what issues you’re running into and how to reproduce them.

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nice post.