---
title: Which of these lines from the book is NOT a pun? — Alice's word games: puns, parodies and… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of these lines from the book is NOT a pun? Test 10 · ★★★ 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 10 · ★★★ · Alice's word games: puns, parodies and nonsense

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of these lines from the book is NOT a pun?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** not be · **To what, where:** pun, book

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★★★ 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/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t10:1
# text = Which of these lines from the book is NOT a pun?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
4	lines	line	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
9	NOT	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	pun	pun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** | present |  | a pun |  | the book |  |  | 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 -->
«A long tail, certainly»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t10:o1:1
# text = «A long tail, certainly»
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«Because he taught us»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t10:o2:1
# text = «Because he taught us»
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	taught	teach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **teach** *speech: other* *in a quote* | past | he |  | us |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent we=Recipient |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«Off with her head!»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t10:o3:1
# text = «Off with her head!»
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Off	off	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«They lessen from day to day»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t10:o4:1
# text = «They lessen from day to day»
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	lessen	lessen	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lessen** *in a quote* | present | They |  |  |  | day |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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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: [Alice's word games: puns, parodies and…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t9/)
- next →: [Alice's word games: puns, parodies and…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t11/)
- ↑ 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/)