---
title: What would happen to the "seven eight nine" joke if "ate" and "eight… — Puns and jokes that need a pun · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen to the "seven eight nine" joke if "ate" and "eight" sounded different? Test 3 · ★★★ of lesson 28 «Puns and jokes that need a pun» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/28-puns-and-jokes-that-need-a-pun/t3/)

<!-- 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/) / [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/) / [Puns and jokes that need a pun](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/28-puns-and-jokes-that-need-a-pun/) / t3

# Test 3 · ★★★ · Puns and jokes that need a pun

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen to the "seven eight nine" joke if "ate" and "eight" sounded different?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** ate · **What happens:** happen, sound

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★★★ of lesson 28 «Puns and jokes that need a pun» 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/28-puns-and-jokes-that-need-a-pun/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:28-puns-and-jokes-that-need-a-pun:t3:1
# text = What would happen to the "seven eight nine" joke if "ate" and "eight" sounded different?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	compound	_	_
8	eight	eight	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	compound	_	_
9	nine	nine	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
11	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
13	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	ate	ate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	eight	eight	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
20	sounded	sound	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
21	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | to the nine joke | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **sound** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | ate |  |  |  |  | different *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The joke would stop working

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:28-puns-and-jokes-that-need-a-pun:t3:o1:1
# text = The joke would stop working
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	working	work	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | would | the joke |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **work** | gerund | the joke *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would be twice as funny

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:28-puns-and-jokes-that-need-a-pun:t3:o2:1
# text = It would be twice as funny
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
4	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	advmod	_	_
5	as	as	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	funny	funny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | It |  |  |  |  | funny, twice *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing would change

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:28-puns-and-jokes-that-need-a-pun:t3:o3:1
# text = Nothing would change
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | would | Nothing |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would become a maths question

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:28-puns-and-jokes-that-need-a-pun:t3:o4:1
# text = It would become a maths question
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	maths	maths	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | would | It | a maths question |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

<!-- 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: [Puns and jokes that need a pun, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/28-puns-and-jokes-that-need-a-pun/t2/)
- next →: [Puns and jokes that need a pun, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/28-puns-and-jokes-that-need-a-pun/t4/)
- ↑ back to [Puns and jokes that need a pun](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/28-puns-and-jokes-that-need-a-pun/)