--- title: Alice's word games: puns, parodies and nonsense — how Mova does on the tests · Language description: Lesson 41 of the language course of Mova's primary school: 1 of 12 tests right, exam 1 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/) / [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/) / 41 # Alice's word games: puns, parodies and nonsense **Tests:** 1 of 12 right · **Exam:** 1 of 4 right · **Kind:** ★★★ · **Understood:** 9 of 16 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72` Lesson 41 of the language course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/). Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson's questions in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/). ### Test 1 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t1} «the old crab taught Laughing and Grief lol what even is that» What is the joke? - **1.** It is a real subject taught in schools under the sea — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** It is a mistake by the printer that nobody ever fixed — no support - **3.** It means he laughed in the mornings and cried in the afternoons — no support - **4.** It sounds like Latin and Greek, two subjects old schools taught — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t1/) ### Test 2 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t2} Your teacher writes «Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, Derision» on the board and asks what they are. What do you say? - **1.** Four old words for being proud, bored, ugly and rude, written on old classroom walls — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** The four sums in sound-alike form: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** The names of the four houses at the Mock Turtle's school — no support - **4.** Four bad habits that the Mock Turtle wanted children to avoid — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t2/) ### Test 3 · ★★★ · right ✓ {#t3} «the lessons got shorter every day, so on day 11 they had none, right?» Why does the Gryphon say they «lessen»? - **1.** Because the teachers got lazier each day of the week — score 4 - **2.** Because the sea washed one page of the lesson book away each day, until nothing was left — no support - **3.** It's a pun: «lessons» sounds like «lessen», which means get smaller — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 8 - **4.** Because the Mock Turtle forgot a bit more every night — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score 8, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 41, line 7: «The Mock Turtle's teacher was called Tortoise «because he taught us», and the school's lessons got shorter each day «because they lessen from day to day».», reached through the cause of the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «lessen» (+4); the same doer «lessons» (+4). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t3/) ### Test 4 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t4} A friend writes a poem: «Hickory dickory dog, the mouse ran up the frog». What has she written? - **1.** A parody of a famous nursery rhyme — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** A pun on two words that sound the same — **← Mova's choice** · score 6 - **3.** A malapropism about the antipodes — no support - **4.** A riddle that has no answer — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 41, line 2: «The Mouse says «Mine is a long and a sad tale!» and Alice, looking at its tail, says «It is a long tail, certainly, but why do you call it sad?» That is a pun:…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «two words» (+2); the same thing acted on «same» (+1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t4/) ### Test 5 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t5} Why is «You are old, Father William» funnier if you know Southey's poem? - **1.** It is not funnier: the two poems are exactly the same — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Southey's poem was written in old French and nobody in England could understand a word of it — no support - **3.** The serious old man becomes a silly one who stands on his head — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** Southey's poem is about a mouse who tells a sad tale — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t5/) ### Test 6 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t6} The Hatter's riddle has no answer. Why might Carroll have written a riddle like that? - **1.** Because the answer was a secret only Alice Liddell knew — no support - **2.** Because he forgot the answer while he was writing the book and never found his notes again — **← Mova's choice** · score 3 - **3.** Because riddles were against the law in Victorian England — no support - **4.** To show that Wonderland talk often sounds clever but means nothing — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 41, line 15: «The Hatter's riddle «Why is a raven like a writing-desk?» has no answer; Carroll admitted it, though later he and his readers invented answers for fun.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «carroll» (+2); the same thing acted on «answer» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t6/) ### Test 7 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t7} A boy says «I'm gooder at football than him». Like whom in the book has he forgotten good English? - **1.** The Hatter, saying «writing-desk» — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** The Mock Turtle, saying «porpoise» — no support - **3.** The Mouse, saying «the driest thing I know» — no support - **4.** Alice, saying «curiouser and curiouser» — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t7/) ### Test 8 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t8} «my nan said she's going to the antipathies for Christmas» What does Nan mean, and what slip did she make? - **1.** She means a Christmas party game and used the old Victorian word for it, which is still correct today — **← Mova's choice** · score 3 - **2.** She means the antipodes, the far side of the Earth, and swapped it for a sound-alike word — **✓ the right answer** · score 2 - **3.** She means a place in Scotland called the Antipathies, and spelled it right — no support - **4.** She means she will spend Christmas with people she dislikes and said it correctly — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 3, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 41, line 11: «A parody copies the shape and rhythm of a well-known poem or song but changes the words to make it funny.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «words» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1); a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 2, scored 2. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t8/) ### Test 9 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t9} Is «I eat what I see» the same as «I see what I eat»? - **1.** No: the first means you eat everything you see — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** Yes: the same words always mean the same thing — **← Mova's choice** · score 2 - **3.** No: the second means you eat everything you see — no support - **4.** Yes: both mean you look at your food — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 36, line 7: «A palindrome reads the same forwards and backwards: level, radar, kayak, racecar; "Was it a car or a cat I saw?" is a palindrome sentence if you ignore spaces…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «cat» (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t9/) ### Test 10 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t10} Which of these lines from the book is NOT a pun? - **1.** «A long tail, certainly» — **← Mova's choice** · score 6 - **2.** «Because he taught us» — no support - **3.** «Off with her head!» — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** «They lessen from day to day» — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 41, line 2: «The Mouse says «Mine is a long and a sad tale!» and Alice, looking at its tail, says «It is a long tail, certainly, but why do you call it sad?» That is a pun:…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «mouse» (+3); the same property (+3). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t10/) ### Test 11 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t11} ★★★ Using the Mock Turtle's code (Reeling = reading, Drawling = drawing, Mystery = history), what would «Fizzicks and Kemistree» probably mean? - **1.** Fizzy drinks and chimneys — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Physics and chemistry — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** Fishing and keeping trees — no support - **4.** Fixing and kitchens — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t11/) ### Test 12 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t12} ★★★ Change the order of words and the Hatter's point shows: which pair means two DIFFERENT things? - **1.** «She ran fast» and «Fast she ran» — no support - **2.** «I am happy and tired» and «I am tired and happy» — no support - **3.** «Red and blue» and «blue and red» — **← Mova's choice** · score 7 - **4.** «I like what I get» and «I get what I like» — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 12, line 1: «Some English words sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things: they're (they are), their (belonging to them) and there (that place):…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «different things» (+4); the same action «mean» (+3). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/t12/) ### Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e1} Identify the device employed by the author in the line «because he taught us», given in explanation of the name Tortoise. - **1.** A pun founded upon two expressions of similar sound — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** A parody of a well-known instructional poem — **← Mova's choice** · score 5 - **3.** A proverb altered for the purpose of satire — no support - **4.** A riddle constructed so as to admit no answer whatsoever — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 5, line 12: «Long ago "thou" was the friendly word for one person you knew well, like Ukrainian ти or French tu, and "you" or "ye" was for more than one person or someone y…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «know» (+4); the same property (+1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/e1/) ### Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e2} Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a parody? - **1.** A factual account of the life of the author of a known work — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** A translation of a known work into a foreign language — no support - **3.** A composition in which every line rhymes with the line immediately preceding it, as in a nursery song — no support - **4.** A composition imitating the form of a known work, with altered and humorous content — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/e2/) ### Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓ {#e3} Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the riddle propounded by the Hatter. - **1.** It was devised without any answer, as the author subsequently acknowledged — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6 - **2.** Its answer is supplied by the Dormouse at the close of the chapter — no support - **3.** Its answer appears upon the final page of the volume — no support - **4.** Its answer is revealed by the Queen of Hearts during the trial of the Knave — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 41, line 15: «The Hatter's riddle «Why is a raven like a writing-desk?» has no answer; Carroll admitted it, though later he and his readers invented answers for fun.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «invent» (+4); the same circumstance (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/e3/) ### Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e4} Ascertain the expression of which «Curiouser and curiouser» constitutes an ungrammatical rendering. - **1.** Most curious of all — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** More and more curious — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** Less and less curious — no support - **4.** Curious and more curious still — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/41-alice-s-word-games-puns-parodies-and-nonsense/e4/) - ← previous: [40. The big language quiz](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/40-the-big-language-quiz/) - next →: [42. Kipling's word games: «Best Beloved», the 'Stute…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/42-kipling-s-word-games-best-beloved-stute-fish-humph-and-the-great-grey-green-greasy-limpopo/) - ↑ back to [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/)