Exam question 4 · Contes des Fées, The Adventures of Covan the Brown-Haired,…

What is the principal lesson conveyed by the conclusion of this narrative?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: be, convey, conclude · To what, where: principal lesson, narrative

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1183 «Contes des Fées, The Adventures of Covan the Brown-Haired, part 49: Ardan herds the old man's cows and is turned to stone» 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	5 lesson	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 lesson	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 lesson	det
4	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 lesson	amod
5	lesson	lesson	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 lesson	acl
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 conclusion	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 conclusion	det
9	conclusion	conclusion	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 conveyed	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 narrative	case
11	this	this	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	12 narrative	det
12	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 conclusion	nmod
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 lesson	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the principal lesson		tree rules
2	convey	participle	the principal lesson not said here	by the conclusion of this narrative	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	conclude		this narrative		nom conclusion «cognition transitive»: of=patient

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 · ← Mova's choice

that one should always obey the stronger party

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	that	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 one	det
2	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 obey	nsubj
3	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 obey	aux
4	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	5 obey	advmod
5	obey	obey	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 party	det
7	stronger	strong	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	8 party	amod
8	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 obey	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	obey	should	that one	the stronger party				always property	vn abide_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent party=Theme

Option 2

that a promise once given must be honoured faithfully, even when the cost is great and the reward is far away

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 honoured	mark
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 promise	det
3	promise	promise	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 honoured	nsubj:pass
4	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	5 given	advmod
5	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 promise	acl
6	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 honoured	aux
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 honoured	aux:pass
8	honoured	honour	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 great	advcl
9	faithfully	faithfully	ADV	_	8 honoured	advmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 honoured	punct
11	even	even	ADV	_	16 great	advmod
12	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	16 great	advmod
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 cost	det
14	cost	cost	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 great	nsubj
15	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 great	cop
16	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
17	and	and	CCONJ	_	22 away	cc
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 reward	det
19	reward	reward	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 away	nsubj
20	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	22 away	cop
21	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	22 away	advmod
22	away	away	ADV	_	16 great	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	give	participle		a promise not said here	once property	vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	honour	must · passive		a promise	faithfully property	tree rules
3	is	present	the cost		great property	tree rules
4	is	present	the reward		away, far property	tree rules

Option 3

that old men should never be trusted

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 men	nsubj
2	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 men	amod
3	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 trusted	nsubj:pass
4	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 trusted	aux
5	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	7 trusted	advmod
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 trusted	aux:pass
7	trusted	trust	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	man		that						tree rules
2	not trust	should · passive		old men					vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

that a promise once given must be honoured faithfully

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 honoured	mark
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 promise	det
3	promise	promise	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 honoured	nsubj:pass
4	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	5 given	advmod
5	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 promise	acl
6	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 honoured	aux
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 honoured	aux:pass
8	honoured	honour	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	faithfully	faithfully	ADV	_	8 honoured	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	participle		a promise not said here				once property	vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	honour	must · passive		a promise				faithfully property	tree rules

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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