Exam question 1 · Sarcasm and tone of voice

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises sarcasm?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: sarcasm

This is exam question 1 of lesson 29 «Sarcasm and tone of voice» 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	sarcasm	sarcasm	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
10	?	?	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		sarcasm				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 · ← Mova's choice

The practice of speaking in a whisper

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 practice	det
2	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	SCONJ	_	4 speaking	mark
4	speaking	speak	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 practice	acl
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 whisper	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 whisper	det
7	whisper	whisper	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 speaking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	speak speech: other	gerund	the practice not said here			a whisper			vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The utterance of words contrary to the intended meaning, so as to convey mockery or displeasure

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 utterance	det
2	utterance	utterance	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 contrary	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 words	case
4	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 utterance	nmod
5	contrary	contrary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	to	to	ADP	_	9 meaning	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 meaning	det
8	intended	intend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 meaning	amod
9	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 contrary	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 convey	punct
11	so	so	ADV	_	14 convey	advmod
12	as	as	SCONJ	_	14 convey	mark
13	to	to	PART	_	14 convey	mark
14	convey	convey	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 contrary	conj
15	mockery	mockery	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 convey	obj
16	or	or	CCONJ	_	17 displeasure	cc
17	displeasure	displeasure	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 mockery	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	roles by
1	intend	participle		vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
2	convey	to-infinitive	mockery or displeasure	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent mockery=Topic
3	utter		words	nom utterance «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The utterance of words entirely consistent with the intended meaning, in a courteous manner

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 utterance	det
2	utterance	utterance	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 consistent	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 words	case
4	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 utterance	nmod
5	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	6 consistent	advmod
6	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	with	with	ADP	_	10 meaning	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 meaning	det
9	intended	intend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 meaning	amod
10	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 consistent	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 manner	punct
12	in	in	ADP	_	15 manner	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 manner	det
14	courteous	courteous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 manner	amod
15	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 consistent	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	intend	participle							vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
2	utter			words					nom utterance «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The use of exceptionally formal vocabulary

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 use	det
2	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 vocabulary	case
4	exceptionally	exceptionally	ADV	_	5 formal	advmod
5	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 vocabulary	amod
6	vocabulary	vocabulary	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 use	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use			formal vocabulary					nom use «act transitive»: of=patient

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/29-sarcasm-and-tone-of-voice/e1/