Exam question 4 · Reynard the Fox, The Wolf and the Fox at the Well, part 10…

What is the principal moral conveyed by the fox's conduct in this passage?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: principal moral, fox · What happens: be, convey, conduct · To what, where: principal moral, passage

This is exam question 4 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	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	root	root
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 What	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 moral	det
4	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 moral	amod
5	moral	moral	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	nsubj
6	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 moral	acl
7	by	by	ADP	_	11 conduct	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 fox	det
9	fox	fox	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 conduct	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 fox	case
11	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 conveyed	obl
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 passage	case
13	this	this	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	14 passage	det
14	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 conduct	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 What	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the principal moral				tree rules
2	convey	participle		the principal moral not said here		by the fox's conduct in this passage	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	conduct		the fox		this passage		nom conduct «act transitive»: poss=agent in=place

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

Kindness to strangers is always repaid in full

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Kindness	kindness	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 repaid	nsubj:pass
2	to	to	ADP	_	3 strangers	case
3	strangers	stranger	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Kindness	nmod
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 repaid	aux:pass
5	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	6 repaid	advmod
6	repaid	repay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 full	case
8	full	full	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 repaid	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	repay	present · passive		Kindness to strangers		full		always property	vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient

Option 2

Those who are hungry should share their food with others, for the wolf who refused to help was punished

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Those	that	PRON	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	6 share	nsubj
2	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 hungry	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 hungry	cop
4	hungry	hungry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Those	acl:relcl
5	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 share	aux
6	share	share	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 food	nmod:poss
8	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 share	obj
9	with	with	ADP	_	10 others	case
10	others	other	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 share	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 wolf	punct
12	for	for	ADP	_	14 wolf	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 wolf	det
14	wolf	wolf	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 punished	nsubj:pass
15	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	16 refused	nsubj
16	refused	refuse	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 wolf	acl:relcl
17	to	to	PART	_	18 help	mark
18	help	help	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	16 refused	xcomp
19	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	20 punished	aux:pass
20	punished	punish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 share	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present			hungry property	tree rules
2	share	should	Those	their food	with others	tree rules
3	refuse	past	the wolf			vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
4	not help	to-infinitive	the wolf not said here			vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent
5	punish	past · passive		the wolf		vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Cunning may overcome brute strength and appetite

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Cunning	cunning	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 overcome	nsubj
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 overcome	aux
3	overcome	overcome	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	brute	brute	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 strength	amod
5	strength	strength	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 overcome	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 appetite	cc
7	appetite	appetite	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 strength	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	overcome	may	Cunning	brute strength and appetite					vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot strength=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Foxes should never trust wolves at all

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Foxes	fox	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 trust	nsubj
2	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 trust	aux
3	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	4 trust	advmod
4	trust	trust	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	wolves	wolf	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 trust	obj
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 all	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	4 trust	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not trust	should	Foxes	wolves		all			vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wolf=Theme

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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