---
title: A friend writes a poem: «Hickory dickory dog, the mouse ran up the f… — Alice's word games: puns, parodies and… · tree and pragmatics
description: A friend writes a poem: «Hickory dickory dog, the mouse ran up the frog». What has she written? Test 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 option; Mov
---

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# Test 4 · ★★★ · Alice's word games: puns, parodies and nonsense

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A friend writes a poem: «Hickory dickory dog, the mouse ran up the frog». What has she written?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** friend, mouse · **What happens:** write, run up · **To what, where:** poem, frog · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 4 · ★★★ 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A friend writes a poem: «Hickory dickory dog, the mouse ran up the frog».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t4:1
# text = A friend writes a poem: «Hickory dickory dog, the mouse ran up the frog».
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	writes	write	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	poem	poem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
7	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Hickory	Hickory	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
9	dickory	dickory	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
15	up	up	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | present | a friend | a poem |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Agent poem=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **run up** *in a quote* | past | the mouse | the frog |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent frog=Agent |

<!-- .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:* What has she written?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t4:2
# text = What has she written?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | present · perfect | mouse |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A parody of a famous nursery rhyme

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t4:o1:1
# text = A parody of a famous nursery rhyme
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	parody	parody	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	famous	famous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	nursery	nursery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	rhyme	rhyme	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **parody** |  |  | a famous nursery rhyme |  |  |  |  | nom parody «communication transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A pun on two words that sound the same

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t4:o2:1
# text = A pun on two words that sound the same
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pun	pun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	sound	sound	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sound** | present | two words | the same |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location same=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A malapropism about the antipodes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t4:o3:1
# text = A malapropism about the antipodes
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	malapropism	malapropism	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	about	about	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	antipodes	antipode	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A riddle that has no answer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense:t4:o4:1
# text = A riddle that has no answer
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	riddle	riddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | a riddle | no answer |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent answer=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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t3/)
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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/)