---
title: «the old crab taught Laughing and Grief lol what even is that» What… — Alice's word games: puns, parodies and… · tree and pragmatics
description: «the old crab taught Laughing and Grief lol what even is that» What is the joke? Test 1 · ★★★ 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 option; Mova's choice was 
---

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# Test 1 · ★★★ · Alice's word games: puns, parodies and nonsense

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«the old crab taught Laughing and Grief lol what even is that» What is the joke?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** old crab, that · **What happens:** teach, laugh, be · **To what, where:** joke · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★★★ of lesson 41 «Alice's word games: puns, parodies and nonsense» 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/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/#t1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t1:1
# text = «the old crab taught Laughing and Grief lol what even is that» What is the joke?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	taught	teach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	Laughing	laugh	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	xcomp	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	Grief	Grief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
9	lol	lol	INTJ	UH	_	10	discourse	_	_
10	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	parataxis	_	_
11	even	even	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
15	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	18	nsubj	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **teach** *speech: other* *in a quote* | past | the old crab |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **laugh** *in a quote* | gerund | the old crab *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | that |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** *speech: other* | present |  | the joke |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a real subject taught in schools under the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t1:o1:1
# text = It is a real subject taught in schools under the sea
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	taught	teach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	schools	school	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
9	under	under	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a real subject |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **teach** *speech: other* | participle |  | a real subject *not said here* |  | schools |  | under the sea | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a mistake by the printer that nobody ever fixed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t1:o2:1
# text = It is a mistake by the printer that nobody ever fixed
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	mistake	mistake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	printer	printer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	11	advmod	_	_
11	fixed	fix	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a mistake |  |  |  | by the printer | tree rules |
| 2 | **fix** | participle · passive |  | the printer |  |  | ever |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: subject=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It means he laughed in the mornings and cried in the afternoons

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t1:o3:1
# text = It means he laughed in the mornings and cried in the afternoons
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	4	nsubj	_	_
4	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	mornings	morning	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	afternoons	afternoon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .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 clause=Topic |
| 2 | **laugh** | past | he |  |  |  | morning |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | he *not said here* |  |  |  | afternoon |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It sounds like Latin and Greek, two subjects old schools taught

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t1:o4:1
# text = It sounds like Latin and Greek, two subjects old schools taught
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sounds	sound	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	like	like	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Latin	Latin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	Greek	Greek	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	subjects	subject	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
10	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	schools	school	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
12	taught	teach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sound** | present | It |  |  |  |  | like Latin and Greek | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **school** |  | two subjects |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **teach** *speech: other* | participle |  | old schools *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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: [The big language quiz, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/40-the-big-language-quiz/e4/)
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- ↑ 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/)