---
title: «put salt in her bottle lol». Why is this not a harmless joke? — Cruel pranks and where the line is · tree and pragmatics
description: «put salt in her bottle lol». Why is this not a harmless joke? Test 8 · ★★ of lesson 439 «Cruel pranks and where the line is» 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 8 · ★★ · Cruel pranks and where the line is

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«put salt in her bottle lol». Why is this not a harmless joke?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, this · **What happens:** put, not be · **To what, where:** salt, bottle, harmless joke

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This is test 8 · ★★ of lesson 439 «Cruel pranks and where the line is» 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/439-cruel-pranks-and-where-the-line-is/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «put salt in her bottle lol».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:439-cruel-pranks-and-where-the-line-is:t8:1
# text = «put salt in her bottle lol».
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	put	put	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	bottle	bottle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	lol	lol	INTJ	UH	_	2	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **put** *in a quote* | imperative | you *not said here* | salt |  | her bottle |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent salt=Theme in bottle=Destination |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Why is this not a harmless joke?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:439-cruel-pranks-and-where-the-line-is:t8:2
# text = Why is this not a harmless joke?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	harmless	harmless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** | present | this | a harmless joke |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Salt is much too expensive to waste on a joke

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:439-cruel-pranks-and-where-the-line-is:t8:o1:1
# text = Salt is much too expensive to waste on a joke
1	Salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	much	much	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	expensive	expensive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	waste	waste	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	csubj	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Salt |  |  |  |  | expensive *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **waste** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | on a joke *goal* | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent on joke=Goal |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She'd taste it at once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:439-cruel-pranks-and-where-the-line-is:t8:o2:1
# text = She'd taste it at once
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	taste	taste	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **taste** | would | She | it |  |  |  |  | vn stalk-35.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Theme at once=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It's fine if she laughs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:439-cruel-pranks-and-where-the-line-is:t8:o3:1
# text = It's fine if she laughs
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	expl	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	laughs	laugh	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | fine *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **laugh** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | she |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Anything put in someone's drink secretly could make them ill

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:439-cruel-pranks-and-where-the-line-is:t8:o4:1
# text = Anything put in someone's drink secretly could make them ill
1	Anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	9	nsubj	_	_
2	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	acl	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	drink	drink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	secretly	secretly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **put** | participle |  |  |  | someone's drink |  | secretly *property* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in drink=Destination |
| 2 | **make** | could | Anything | them *= they* |  |  |  | ill *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material they=Product |

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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.

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- ← previous: [Cruel pranks and where the line is, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/439-cruel-pranks-and-where-the-line-is/t7/)
- next →: [Cruel pranks and where the line is, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/439-cruel-pranks-and-where-the-line-is/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Cruel pranks and where the line is](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/439-cruel-pranks-and-where-the-line-is/)