Exam question 3 · Reynard the Fox, The Wolf and the Fox at the Well, part 10…

Why does the fox ask the wolf to descend the well first?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: fox, wolf · What happens: ask, descend · To what, where: wolf, well

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1144 «Reynard the Fox, The Wolf and the Fox at the Well, part 10: the hungry wolf and the cunning fox plan a feast of cheese, and the fox tricks the wolf into the bucket» of the books 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.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	5 ask	advmod
2	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 ask	aux
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 fox	det
4	fox	fox	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 ask	nsubj
5	ask	ask	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 wolf	det
7	wolf	wolf	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 ask	obj
8	to	to	PART	_	9 descend	mark
9	descend	descend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 ask	xcomp
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 well	det
11	well	well	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 descend	obj
12	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	9 descend	advmod
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 ask	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	present · do-support	the fox	the wolf					vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent wolf=Recipient clause=Topic
2	descend not said to happen	to-infinitive	the wolf not said here	the well				first property	vn meander-47.7-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location well=Theme

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

Option 1

So the wolf can check the depth of the water before she goes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	So	so	ADV	_	5 check	advmod
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 wolf	det
3	wolf	wolf	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 check	nsubj
4	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 check	aux
5	check	check	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 depth	det
7	depth	depth	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 check	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 water	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 water	det
10	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 depth	nmod
11	before	before	SCONJ	_	13 goes	mark
12	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 goes	nsubj
13	goes	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 check	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	check	can	the wolf	the depth of the water					vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent depth=Theme
2	go	present	wolf						vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

To show her courage

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 show	mark
2	show	show	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 courage	nmod:poss
4	courage	courage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 show	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	show	to-infinitive		her courage					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent courage=Recipient

Option 3

To let the wolf go first and show her the way down

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 let	mark
2	let	let	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 wolf	det
4	wolf	wolf	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 let	obj
5	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 let	xcomp
6	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	5 go	advmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 show	cc
8	show	show	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	2 let	conj
9	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 show	iobj
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 way	det
11	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 show	obj
12	down	down	ADV	_	8 show	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	let	to-infinitive		the wolf			tree rules
2	go	infinitive	the wolf not said here			first property	vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	show	infinitive		the way	her = she	down property	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent she=Recipient way=Topic

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

To secure the wolf's entrapment while she escapes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 secure	mark
2	secure	secure	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 wolf	det
4	wolf	wolf	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 entrapment	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 wolf	case
6	entrapment	entrapment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 secure	obj
7	while	while	SCONJ	_	9 escapes	mark
8	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 escapes	nsubj
9	escapes	escape	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 secure	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	secure	to-infinitive		the wolf's entrapment	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition entrapment=Theme
2	escape	present	she		vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	entrap		the wolf		nom entrapment «act transitive»: poss=agent

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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1144-pg3027-part10/e3/