---
title: «nobody gets my jokes except him lol». Why could that start a friend… — How best friends start · tree and pragmatics
description: «nobody gets my jokes except him lol». Why could that start a friendship? Test 11 of lesson 461 «How best friends start» 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 wrong.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/461-how-best-friends-start/t11/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/) / [How best friends start](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/461-how-best-friends-start/) / t11

# Test 11 · How best friends start

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«nobody gets my jokes except him lol». Why could that start a friendship?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** nobody, my, that · **What happens:** get, joke, start · **To what, where:** jokes, friendship

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 of lesson 461 «How best friends start» 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/461-how-best-friends-start/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «nobody gets my jokes except him lol».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:461-how-best-friends-start:t11:1
# text = «nobody gets my jokes except him lol».
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
3	gets	get	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	jokes	joke	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	except	except	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nmod	_	_
8	lol	lol	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** *in a quote* | present | nobody | my jokes |  |  |  | except him *= he* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer joke=Stimulus |
| 2 | **joke** *in a quote* |  | my |  |  |  |  | except him *= he* | nom joke «communication intransitive»: poss=agent except=obl |

<!-- .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 could that start a friendship?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:461-how-best-friends-start:t11:2
# text = Why could that start a friendship?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	start	start	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	friendship	friendship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | could | that | a friendship |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friendship=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It only works for gravy jokes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:461-how-best-friends-start:t11:o1:1
# text = It only works for gravy jokes
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	works	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	gravy	gravy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	jokes	joke	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **work** | present | It |  |  |  |  | for gravy jokes | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for joke=Beneficiary |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sharing the same sense of humour bonds people

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:461-how-best-friends-start:t11:o2:1
# text = Sharing the same sense of humour bonds people
1	Sharing	share	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	humour	humour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	bonds	bond	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **share** | gerund |  | the same sense of humour bonds |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **sense** |  |  | humour bonds |  |  |  |  | nom sense «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Jokes make people scared

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:461-how-best-friends-start:t11:o3:1
# text = Jokes make people scared
1	Jokes	joke	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	scared	scared	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Jokes | people |  |  |  | scared *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset people=Product |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It means he's only being polite to you to be nice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:461-how-best-friends-start:t11:o4:1
# text = It means he's only being polite to you to be nice
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	cop	_	_
7	polite	polite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	ccomp	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	cop	_	_
12	nice	nice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | he |  | you |  |  | polite *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | to-infinitive | he *not said here* |  |  |  |  | nice *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [How best friends start, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/461-how-best-friends-start/t10/)
- next →: [How best friends start, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/461-how-best-friends-start/e1/)
- ↑ back to [How best friends start](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/461-how-best-friends-start/)