---
title: witticism — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «witticism» in the school dictionary: A clever, quick joke or saying that makes people smile and think. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/witticism/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/) / [school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/) / [W](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/) / witticism

# witticism

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** clever quick joke, people, witticism, everyone, king, Polly · **What happens:** say, make, smile, think, laugh, enjoy · **To what, where:** people, everyone, witticisms, witticism · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
«witticism» in the school dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [witticism in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/witticism.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A clever, quick joke or saying that makes people smile and think.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:witticism:m1:1
# text = A clever, quick joke or saying that makes people smile and think.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	quick	quick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
11	smile	smile	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **make** | present | a clever quick joke | people |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **smile** | infinitive | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | infinitive | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
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.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His witticism made everyone laugh.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:witticism:x1:1
# text = His witticism made everyone laugh.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	witticism	witticism	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	3	obj	_	_
5	laugh	laugh	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | His witticism | everyone |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **laugh** | infinitive | everyone *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The king enjoyed her witticisms.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:witticism:x2:1
# text = The king enjoyed her witticisms.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	enjoyed	enjoy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	witticisms	witticism	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **enjoy** | past | the king | her witticisms |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer witticism=Stimulus |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Polly added another witticism to the talk.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:witticism:x3:1
# text = Polly added another witticism to the talk.
1	Polly	Polly	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	added	add	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
4	witticism	witticism	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	talk	talk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **add** *speech: assert* | past | Polly | another witticism |  |  |  | to the talk | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent witticism=Patient to talk=Co-Patient |

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **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 meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [witness](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/witness/)
- next →: [witty](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/witty/)
- ↑ back to [W in school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/)