Exam question 2 · Sarcasm and tone of voice

Identify the principal reason for which sarcasm is frequently misapprehended in written text messages.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, misapprehend, write · To what, where: principal reason, sarcasm, written text messages

This is exam question 2 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	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 misapprehended	obl
7	sarcasm	sarcasm	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 misapprehended	nsubj:pass
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 misapprehended	aux:pass
9	frequently	frequently	ADV	_	10 misapprehended	advmod
10	misapprehended	misapprehend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
11	in	in	ADP	_	14 messages	case
12	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 messages	amod
13	text	text	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 messages	compound
14	messages	message	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 misapprehended	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	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	misapprehend	present · passive		sarcasm	written text messages	for the principal reason; frequently property	vn comprehend-87.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus
3	write	participle					vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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 absence of vocal tone and facial expression

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 absence	det
2	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 tone	case
4	vocal	vocal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 tone	amod
5	tone	tone	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absence	nmod
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 expression	cc
7	facial	facial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 expression	amod
8	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 tone	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absent			vocal tone and facial expression					nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The prohibition of punctuation in such messages

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 prohibition	det
2	prohibition	prohibition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 punctuation	case
4	punctuation	punctuation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 prohibition	nmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 messages	case
6	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 messages	amod
7	messages	message	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 prohibition	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit			punctuation		such messages			nom prohibition «communication transitive»: of=patient in=place

Option 3

The excessive length of such messages

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 length	det
2	excessive	excessive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 length	amod
3	length	length	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 messages	case
5	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 messages	amod
6	messages	message	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 length	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4

The use of capital letters at the start of sentences

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	_	5 letters	case
4	capital	capital	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 letters	compound
5	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 use	nmod
6	at	at	ADP	_	8 start	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 start	det
8	start	start	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 letters	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 sentences	case
10	sentences	sentence	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 start	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use			capital letters at the start of sentences					nom use «act transitive»: of=patient
2	start			sentences					nom start «event 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/e2/