We do too, but they’re mostly for the various IF programming languages.
Adding on to what others have said, sometimes beginner-friendly games implement a VERBS command, where it’ll just list all (or most) of the possible verbs in the game. Most will also have a basic response to HELP or HINT (sometimes HELP is general while HINT is contextual, but sometimes they’re synonyms) or at the very least ABOUT.
Personally, I think the best way to learn parser conventions is through playing one (with a walkthrough if you need help). My first (completed) game was Violet, which is nice because it introduces various puzzle mechanics but is contained in one room, so everything you need is right in front of you. I then played Lost Pig, which is longer than Violet and has more difficult/less hinted puzzles.
There are of course numerous other beginner-friendly games. Many people here will suggest The Dreamhold because it does a good job at slowly introducing new features. In my experience, though, it was still too overwhelming. So, You’ve Never Played a Text Adventure Before, Huh? is a pretty good introduction, too, with lots of references. Galatea is not your traditional parser game, and more like an interrogation where you ask an animate statue about a ton of different topics, with different endings. You may also find 77 Verbs helpful for all 77 standard verbs in the Inform [1] library. It is less an introduction to how to play parser games and more to get you familiar with all the verb options (not all of these will be used in all games).
All of the above games are well-hinted and most have walkthroughs as well. And most of them are short (except Dreamhold and Galatea (but this one is basically infinite)). Read the blurbs, pick a few, and try them out. They’ll give you a good idea of what to expect from most parsers.
one of the many programming languages for parser games ↩︎