Test 3 · ★★★ · Alice's word games: puns, parodies and nonsense

«the lessons got shorter every day, so on day 11 they had none, right?» Why does the Gryphon say they «lessen»?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: lessons, Gryphon · What happens: get, have, do, say, lessen · To what, where: none · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 3 · ★★★ of lesson 41 «Alice's word games: puns, parodies and nonsense» 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: «the lessons got shorter every day, so on day 11 they had none, right?»

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	4 got	punct
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 lessons	det
3	lessons	lesson	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 got	nsubj
4	got	get	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	shorter	short	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	4 got	xcomp
6	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	7 day	det
7	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 shorter	obl:unmarked
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 had	punct
9	so	so	ADV	_	14 had	advmod
10	on	on	ADP	_	11 day	case
11	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 had	obl
12	11	11	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	11 day	flat
13	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 had	nsubj
14	had	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 got	conj
15	none	none	PRON	PronType=Neg	14 had	obj
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 had	punct
17	right	right	INTJ	_	4 got	discourse
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 got	punct
19	»	»	PUNCT	_	4 got	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	get in a quote	past	the lessons					short property	vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer
2	have in a quote	past	lessons = lesson	none			day		vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent none=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: Why does the Gryphon say they «lessen»?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	2 does	advmod
2	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 say	advcl
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Gryphon	det
4	Gryphon	Gryphon	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 say	nsubj
5	say	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 lessen	nsubj
7	«	«	PUNCT	_	8 lessen	punct
8	lessen	lessen	VERB	Mood=Sub Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 say	ccomp
9	»	»	PUNCT	_	8 lessen	punct
10	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 say	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	roles by
1	do	present	the Gryphon not said here	vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	say speech: assert	present	the Gryphon	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	lessen in a quote	infinitive	lessons = lesson	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

The options

Option 1

Because the teachers got lazier each day of the week

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Because	because	SCONJ	_	4 got	mark
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 teachers	det
3	teachers	teacher	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 got	nsubj
4	got	get	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	lazier	lazy	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	4 got	xcomp
6	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	7 day	det
7	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 got	obl:unmarked
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 week	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 week	det
10	week	week	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 day	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	get	past	the teachers				day	lazy property	vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer

Option 2

Because the sea washed one page of the lesson book away each day, until nothing was left

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Because	because	SCONJ	_	4 washed	mark
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 sea	det
3	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 washed	nsubj
4	washed	wash	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 page	nummod
6	page	page	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 washed	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	10 book	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 book	det
9	lesson	lesson	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 book	compound
10	book	book	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 page	nmod
11	away	away	ADV	_	4 washed	advmod
12	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	13 day	det
13	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 washed	obl:unmarked
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 left	punct
15	until	until	SCONJ	_	18 left	mark
16	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	18 left	nsubj:pass
17	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	18 left	aux:pass
18	left	leave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 washed	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	wash	past	the sea	one page of the lesson book	day	away property	vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent page=Patient
2	leave	past · passive		nothing			vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
3	page			the lesson book			nom page «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It's a pun: «lessons» sounds like «lessen», which means get smaller

The tree, 12 words

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	4 pun	nsubj
2	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 pun	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 pun	det
4	pun	pun	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	:	:	PUNCT	_	9 sounds	punct
6	«	«	PUNCT	_	7 lessons	punct
7	lessons	lesson	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 sounds	nsubj
8	»	»	PUNCT	_	7 lessons	punct
9	sounds	sound	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 pun	acl:relcl
10	like	like	SCONJ	_	12 lessen	mark
11	«	«	PUNCT	_	12 lessen	punct
12	lessen	lessen	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 sounds	xcomp
13	»	»	PUNCT	_	12 lessen	punct
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 means	punct
15	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	16 means	nsubj
16	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 pun	conj
17	get	get	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	16 means	ccomp
18	smaller	small	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	17 get	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a pun		tree rules
2	sound	present	lessons	a pun not said here		tree rules
3	lessen in a quote	infinitive	lessons not said here			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
4	mean	present	a pun			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
5	get	infinitive			small property	vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer

Option 4

Because the Mock Turtle forgot a bit more every night

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Because	because	SCONJ	_	5 forgot	mark
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Turtle	det
3	Mock	Mock	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 Turtle	compound
4	Turtle	Turtle	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 forgot	nsubj
5	forgot	forget	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 bit	det
7	bit	bit	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 more	obl:unmarked
8	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 forgot	obj
9	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	10 night	det
10	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 forgot	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	forget	past	the Mock Turtle	more			night		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/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t3/