Exam question 1 · Jokes and teasing: when is it still funny?

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a remark that wounds its target but is described as «just joking»?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: remark · What happens: follow, characteris, wound, describe, joke, target · To what, where: remark, target

This is exam question 1 of lesson 203 «Jokes and teasing: when is it still funny?» of the everyday 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.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 remark	det
10	remark	remark	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 wounds	nsubj
12	wounds	wound	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 remark	acl:relcl
13	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 target	nmod:poss
14	target	target	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 wounds	obj
15	but	but	CCONJ	_	17 described	cc
16	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	17 described	aux:pass
17	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 wounds	conj
18	as	as	SCONJ	_	21 joking	mark
19	«	«	PUNCT	_	21 joking	punct
20	just	just	ADV	_	21 joking	advmod
21	joking	joke	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	17 described	advcl
22	»	»	PUNCT	_	21 joking	punct
23	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		a remark	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	wound	present	a remark	remark's target		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus target=Experiencer
4	describe	present · passive	a remark not said here			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»
5	joke speech: other in a quote	gerund	a remark not said here			vn chit_chat-37.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent
6	target		remark			nom target «communication transitive»: poss=agent

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

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The description does not render the remark acceptable

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 description	det
2	description	description	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 render	nsubj
3	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 render	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 render	advmod
5	render	render	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 remark	det
7	remark	remark	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 render	obj
8	acceptable	acceptable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 render	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not render	present · do-support	the description	the remark				acceptable property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent remark=Theme

Option 2

It is acceptable if the speaker is a friend

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 acceptable	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 acceptable	cop
3	acceptable	acceptable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	if	if	SCONJ	_	9 friend	mark
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 speaker	det
6	speaker	speaker	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 friend	nsubj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 friend	cop
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 friend	det
9	friend	friend	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 acceptable	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					acceptable property	tree rules
2	is a a condition, not said to happen	present	the speaker	a friend					tree rules

Option 3

It is acceptable if others present laugh

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 acceptable	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 acceptable	cop
3	acceptable	acceptable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	if	if	SCONJ	_	7 laugh	mark
5	others	other	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 laugh	nmod:poss
6	present	present	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 others	amod
7	laugh	laugh	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 acceptable	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					acceptable property	tree rules
2	laugh		others						nom laugh «communication intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

The description renders any remark acceptable

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 description	det
2	description	description	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 renders	nsubj
3	renders	render	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	5 remark	det
5	remark	remark	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 renders	obj
6	acceptable	acceptable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 renders	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	present	the description	any remark				acceptable property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent remark=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. Elamur Cosmic License.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/203-jokes-and-teasing/e1/