Exam question 1 · Puns and jokes that need a pun

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a pun?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: pun

This is exam question 1 of lesson 28 «Puns and jokes that need a pun» 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.

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 pun	det
10	pun	pun	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		a pun				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

A statement that must be literally true

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 statement	det
2	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 true	nsubj
4	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 true	aux
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 true	cop
6	literally	literally	ADV	_	7 true	advmod
7	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 statement	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	must	a statement					literally, true property	tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

A humorous use of a word bearing two meanings, or of words identical in sound

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 use	det
2	humorous	humorous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 use	amod
3	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 word	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 word	det
6	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 use	nmod
7	bearing	bear	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 word	acl
8	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 meanings	nummod
9	meanings	meaning	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 bearing	obj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 words	punct
11	or	or	CCONJ	_	13 words	cc
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 words	case
13	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 use	nmod
14	identical	identical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 words	amod
15	in	in	ADP	_	16 sound	case
16	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 identical	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bear	gerund	a word not said here	two meanings					vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Patient
2	use			a word					nom use «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

A joke composed exclusively of numerals

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 joke	det
2	joke	joke	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	composed	compose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 joke	acl
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 composed	advmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 numerals	case
6	numerals	numeral	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 composed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compose	participle		a joke not said here				of numerals; exclusively property	vn create-26.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

A narrative of considerable length concerning animals endowed with the power of speech

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 narrative	det
2	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 animals	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 length	case
4	considerable	considerable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 length	amod
5	length	length	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 narrative	nmod
6	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 animals	amod
7	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
8	endowed	endow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 animals	acl
9	with	with	ADP	_	11 power	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 power	det
11	power	power	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 endowed	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 speech	case
13	speech	speech	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 power	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	concern	gerund							vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer
2	endow	participle		concerning animals not said here				with the power of speech	vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent with power=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/language/28-puns-and-jokes-that-need-a-pun/e1/