---
title: What would have happened if Ruby had said «only joking!» a minute la… — Funny pranks · tree and pragmatics
description: What would have happened if Ruby had said «only joking!» a minute later? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 438 «Funny pranks» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Funny pranks

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would have happened if Ruby had said «only joking!» a minute later?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Ruby · **What happens:** happen, say, joke · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 438 «Funny pranks» of the everyday 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/everyday/438-funny-pranks/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:438-funny-pranks:t4:1
# text = What would have happened if Ruby had said «only joking!» a minute later?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux	_	_
4	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	Ruby	Ruby	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
9	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	only	only	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	joking	joke	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	minute	minute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl:unmarked	_	_
16	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would · perfect |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: express* *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | Ruby |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **joke** *speech: other* *in a quote* | gerund | Ruby *not said here* |  |  |  |  | late *property* | vn chit\_chat-37.6 «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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her friend would still fail

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:438-funny-pranks:t4:o1:1
# text = Her friend would still fail
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	still	still	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	fail	fail	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fail** | would | Her friend |  |  |  | still |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The test would have been cancelled for real

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:438-funny-pranks:t4:o2:1
# text = The test would have been cancelled for real
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	test	test	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux	_	_
5	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	cancelled	cancel	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cancel** | would · perfect · passive |  | the test |  |  |  | for real | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The teacher would punish Ruby

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:438-funny-pranks:t4:o3:1
# text = The teacher would punish Ruby
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	punish	punish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	Ruby	Ruby	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **punish** | would | the teacher | Ruby |  |  |  |  | vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ruby=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her friend would have studied and been fine

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:438-funny-pranks:t4:o4:1
# text = Her friend would have studied and been fine
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	studied	study	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	cop	_	_
8	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **study** | would · perfect · passive |  | Her friend |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 2 | **is** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | fine *property* | tree rules |

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**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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Funny pranks, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/438-funny-pranks/t3/)
- next →: [Funny pranks, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/438-funny-pranks/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Funny pranks](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/438-funny-pranks/)