Exam question 2 · Puns and jokes that need a pun

Identify the principal reason for which puns are seldom preserved in translation.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, preserve · To what, where: principal reason, puns, translation

This is exam question 2 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 preserved	obl
7	puns	pun	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 preserved	nsubj:pass
8	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 preserved	aux:pass
9	seldom	seldom	ADV	_	10 preserved	advmod
10	preserved	preserve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 translation	case
12	translation	translation	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 preserved	obl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	preserve	present · passive		puns		translation		for the principal reason; seldom property	vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Beneficiary

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 · ✓ the right answer

The double meaning depends upon the words of a particular language

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 meaning	det
2	double	double	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 meaning	amod
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 depends	nsubj
4	depends	depend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 words	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 words	det
7	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 depends	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 language	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 language	det
10	particular	particular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 language	amod
11	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 words	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	depend	present	the double meaning					upon the words of a particular language	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent
2	word			a particular language					nom word «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

Translation removes all words of one syllable

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Translation	translation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 removes	nsubj
2	removes	remove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	4 words	det
4	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 removes	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 syllable	case
6	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	7 syllable	nummod
7	syllable	syllable	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 words	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	remove	present	Translation	all words of one syllable					vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme
2	word			one syllable					nom word «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

Translators are forbidden by professional regulation to render any form of humour

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Translators	translator	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 forbidden	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 forbidden	aux:pass
3	forbidden	forbid	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 regulation	case
5	professional	professional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 regulation	amod
6	regulation	regulation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 forbidden	obl
7	to	to	PART	_	8 render	mark
8	render	render	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 forbidden	xcomp
9	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	10 form	det
10	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 render	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 humour	case
12	humour	humour	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 form	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	forbid	present · passive	professional regulation	Translators	tree rules
2	render	to-infinitive	professional regulation not said here	any form of humour	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent form=Theme
3	form			humour	nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Puns exist in only one language worldwide

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Puns	pun	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 exist	nsubj
2	exist	exist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	6 language	case
4	only	only	ADV	_	5 one	advmod
5	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 language	nummod
6	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 exist	obl
7	worldwide	worldwide	ADV	_	2 exist	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exist	present	Puns			one language		worldwide property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in language=Location

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/e2/