Exam question 3 · Puns and jokes that need a pun

In respect of the jest "Why was six afraid of seven? Because seven eight nine", select the response consistent with the established facts.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: be, respect, select, establish · To what, where: respect, jest, response

This is exam question 3 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

Sentence 1: In respect of the jest "Why was six afraid of seven?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	In	in	ADP	_	2 respect	case
2	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 afraid	obl
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 jest	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 jest	det
5	jest	jest	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 respect	nmod
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 afraid	punct
7	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	10 afraid	advmod
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 afraid	cop
9	six	six	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 afraid	nummod
10	afraid	afraid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 seven	case
12	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 afraid	obl
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	10 afraid	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is in a quote	past				respect of the jest		of seven; afraid property	tree rules
2	respect			the jest					nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient

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.

Sentence 2: Because seven eight nine", select the response consistent with the established facts.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Because	because	ADP	ExtPos=ADP	4 nine	case
2	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 nine	compound
3	eight	eight	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 nine	compound
4	nine	nine	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	7 select	obl
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 nine	punct
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 nine	punct
7	select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 response	det
9	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 select	obj
10	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 response	amod
11	with	with	ADP	_	14 facts	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 facts	det
13	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 facts	amod
14	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 consistent	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	7 select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	select in a quote	imperative	you not said here	the response				because seven eight nine	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish in a quote	participle							vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

The humour arises from an error in counting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 humour	det
2	humour	humour	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 arises	nsubj
3	arises	arise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 error	case
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 error	det
6	error	error	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 arises	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 counting	case
8	counting	counting	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 arises	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arise	present	the humour			a error		in counting	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in counting=Location

Option 2

The jest contains no wordplay whatsoever

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 jest	det
2	jest	jest	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 contains	nsubj
3	contains	contain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 wordplay	det
5	wordplay	wordplay	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 contains	obj
6	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	3 contains	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	contain	present	the jest	no wordplay				whatsoever property	vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot wordplay=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The humour arises from the homophones "eight" and "ate"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 humour	det
2	humour	humour	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 arises	nsubj
3	arises	arise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 homophones	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 homophones	det
6	homophones	homophone	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 arises	obl
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 eight	punct
8	eight	eight	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 homophones	appos
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 eight	punct
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 ate	cc
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 ate	punct
12	ate	ate	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 arises	conj
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 ate	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arise	present	the humour			the homophones			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

The humour arises from seven being an odd number

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 humour	det
2	humour	humour	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 arises	nsubj
3	arises	arise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	9 number	case
5	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 number	nsubj
6	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 number	cop
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 number	det
8	odd	odd	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 number	amod
9	number	number	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 arises	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arise	present	the humour						vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	is	gerund	seven			a odd number			tree rules

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/e3/