Test 8 · ★★ · Sarcasm and tone of voice
A cartoon character says "Oh WONDERFUL" in a happy voice with a big smile after winning a prize. Is it sarcasm?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: cartoon character, big smile, prize · What happens: say, win, be · To what, where: prize, sarcasm · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 8 · ★★ of lesson 29 «Sarcasm and tone of voice» of the language course of Mova's primary school. 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: A cartoon character says "Oh WONDERFUL" in a happy voice with a big smile after winning a prize.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 character | det |
| 2 | cartoon | cartoon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 character | compound |
| 3 | character | character | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 says | nsubj |
| 4 | says | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 WONDERFUL | punct |
| 6 | Oh | oh | INTJ | _ | 7 WONDERFUL | discourse |
| 7 | WONDERFUL | wonderful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 says | ccomp |
| 8 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 WONDERFUL | punct |
| 9 | in | in | ADP | _ | 12 voice | case |
| 10 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 12 voice | det |
| 11 | happy | happy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 voice | amod |
| 12 | voice | voice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 WONDERFUL | obl |
| 13 | with | with | ADP | _ | 16 smile | case |
| 14 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 16 smile | det |
| 15 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 smile | amod |
| 16 | smile | smile | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 voice | nmod |
| 17 | after | after | SCONJ | _ | 18 winning | mark |
| 18 | winning | win | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 16 smile | acl |
| 19 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 prize | det |
| 20 | prize | prize | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 winning | obj |
| 21 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 says | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | present | a cartoon character | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | win | gerund | a big smile not said here | a prize | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prize=Eventuality |
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: Is it sarcasm?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 sarcasm | cop |
| 2 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 sarcasm | nsubj |
| 3 | sarcasm | sarcasm | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 3 sarcasm | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | prize | sarcasm | tree rules |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
No, the words, voice and situation all fit
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | no | INTJ | Polarity=Neg | 4 words | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 No | punct |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 words | det |
| 4 | words | word | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 fit | nsubj |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 voice | punct |
| 6 | voice | voice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 words | conj |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 situation | cc |
| 8 | situation | situation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 voice | conj |
| 9 | all | all | ADV | _ | 10 fit | advmod |
| 10 | fit | fit | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | fit | present | the words and voice and situation | all property | vn adjust-26.9 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent |
Option 2
Yes, cartoons are always sarcastic
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | yes | INTJ | Polarity=Pos | 6 sarcastic | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Yes | punct |
| 3 | cartoons | cartoon | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 sarcastic | nsubj |
| 4 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 sarcastic | cop |
| 5 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 6 sarcastic | advmod |
| 6 | sarcastic | sarcastic | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | cartoons | always, sarcastic property | tree rules |
Option 3
It's impossible to tell
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 impossible | expl |
| 2 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 impossible | cop |
| 3 | impossible | impossible | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | PART | _ | 5 tell | mark |
| 5 | tell | tell | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 impossible | xcomp |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | impossible property | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | tell speech: assert | to-infinitive | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
Option 4
Yes, "wonderful" is always sarcastic in cartoons
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | yes | INTJ | Polarity=Pos | 4 wonderful | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Yes | punct |
| 3 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 wonderful | punct |
| 4 | wonderful | wonderful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 sarcastic | csubj |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 wonderful | punct |
| 6 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 sarcastic | cop |
| 7 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 8 sarcastic | advmod |
| 8 | sarcastic | sarcastic | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 9 | in | in | ADP | _ | 10 cartoons | case |
| 10 | cartoons | cartoon | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 sarcastic | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | cartoons | always, sarcastic property | 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/29-sarcasm-and-tone-of-voice/t8/