--- title: Ascertain the expression of which «Curiouser and curiouser» constitu… — Alice's word games: puns, parodies and… · tree and pragmatics description: Ascertain the expression of which «Curiouser and curiouser» constitutes an ungrammatical rendering. Exam question 4 of lesson 41 «Alice's word games: puns, parodies and nonsense» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each opti --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/e4/) [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/) / [Alice's word games: puns, parodies and…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/) / e4 # Exam question 4 · Alice's word games: puns, parodies and nonsense Ascertain the expression of which «Curiouser and curiouser» constitutes an ungrammatical rendering. **Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, expression · **What happens:** ascertain, constitute · **To what, where:** ungrammatical rendering This is exam question 4 of lesson 41 «Alice's word games: puns, parodies and nonsense» of the language course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/#e4). ## The question {#question} ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:e4:1 # text = Ascertain the expression of which «Curiouser and curiouser» constitutes an ungrammatical rendering. 1 Ascertain ascertain VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 expression expression NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 5 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 7 nsubj _ _ 6 « « PUNCT `` _ 7 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 Curiouser curious ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 3 acl:relcl _ _ 8 and and CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 9 curiouser curious ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 7 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 » » PUNCT '' _ 7 punct _ _ 11 constitutes constitute VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 1 acl:relcl _ _ 12 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 13 ungrammatical ungrammatical ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 amod _ _ 14 rendering rendering NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 . . PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | | | | | | vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **constitute** | present | the expression | a ungrammatical rendering | | | | | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme rendering=Pivot | 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 {#o1} Most curious of all ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:e4:o1:1 # text = Most curious of all 1 Most most ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 2 amod _ _ 2 curious curious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 3 of of ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 4 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 2 obl _ _ ``` The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence. ### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2} More and more curious ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:e4:o2:1 # text = More and more curious 1 More more ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 4 advmod _ _ 2 and and CCONJ CC _ 3 cc _ _ 3 more more ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 1 conj _ _ 4 curious curious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ ``` The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence. ### Option 3 {#o3} Less and less curious ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:e4:o3:1 # text = Less and less curious 1 Less less ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 4 advmod _ _ 2 and and CCONJ CC _ 3 cc _ _ 3 less less ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 1 conj _ _ 4 curious curious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ ``` The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence. ### Option 4 {#o4} Curious and more curious still ```conllu # sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:e4:o4:1 # text = Curious and more curious still 1 Curious curious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 2 and and CCONJ CC _ 4 cc _ _ 3 more more ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 4 advmod _ _ 4 curious curious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 1 conj _ _ 5 still still ADV RB _ 1 advmod _ _ ``` The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence. **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. - ← previous: [Alice's word games: puns, parodies and…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/e3/) - next →: [Kipling's word games: «Best Beloved»,…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/42-kipling-s-word-games-best-beloved-stute-fish-humph-and-the-great-grey-green-greasy-limpopo/t1/) - ↑ back to [Alice's word games: puns, parodies and nonsense](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/)