Exam question 2 · Alice's word games: puns, parodies and nonsense

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a parody?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: parody

This is exam question 2 of lesson 41 «Alice's word games: puns, parodies and nonsense» 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	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 parody	det
10	parody	parody	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	?	?	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		a parody				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

A factual account of the life of the author of a known work

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 account	det
2	factual	factual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 account	amod
3	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 life	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 life	det
6	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 account	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 author	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 author	det
9	author	author	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 life	nmod
10	of	of	ADP	_	13 work	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 work	det
12	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 work	amod
13	work	work	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 author	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	know	participle							vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
2	account			the life of the author of a known work					nom account «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

A translation of a known work into a foreign language

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 translation	det
2	translation	translation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 work	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 work	det
5	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 work	amod
6	work	work	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 translation	nmod
7	into	into	ADP	_	10 language	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 language	det
9	foreign	foreign	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 language	amod
10	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 translation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	know	participle							vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
2	translate		a known work			a foreign language			nom translation «communication intransitive»: of=agent into=place

Option 3

A composition in which every line rhymes with the line immediately preceding it, as in a nursery song

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 composition	det
2	composition	composition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 which	case
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 rhymes	obl
5	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	6 line	det
6	line	line	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 rhymes	nsubj
7	rhymes	rhyme	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 composition	acl:relcl
8	with	with	ADP	_	10 line	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 line	det
10	line	line	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 rhymes	obl
11	immediately	immediately	ADV	_	12 preceding	advmod
12	preceding	precede	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 rhymes	advcl
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 preceding	obj
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 song	punct
15	as	as	ADP	_	19 song	case
16	in	in	ADP	_	19 song	case
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 song	det
18	nursery	nursery	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 song	compound
19	song	song	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 composition	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rhyme	present	every line			a composition and a nursery song		with the line	vn amalgamate-22.2-2-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Patient with line=Co-Patient
2	precede	gerund	every line not said here	line				immediately property	vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme it=Co-Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

A composition imitating the form of a known work, with altered and humorous content

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 composition	det
2	composition	composition	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 altered	nsubj:pass
3	imitating	imitate	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 composition	acl
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 form	det
5	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 imitating	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 work	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 work	det
8	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 work	amod
9	work	work	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 form	nmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 altered	punct
11	with	with	SCONJ	_	12 altered	mark
12	altered	alter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 content	cc
14	humorous	humorous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 content	amod
15	content	content	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 altered	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	imitate	gerund	a composition not said here	the form of a known work	vn patent-101 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent form=Theme
2	know	participle			vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
3	alter	participle · passive		a composition	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient
4	form			a known work	nom form «communication 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/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/e2/