Exam question 4 · African Folk-Tales, The Tortoise and the Monkey, part 60:…

Question: With reference to the passage, explain why the fox failed to provide the promised fruit.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, fox · What happens: explain, fail, not provide, promise · To what, where: promised fruit · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1259 «African Folk-Tales, The Tortoise and the Monkey, part 60: the tortoise tricks the fox and the stag, and the monkey cheats the barber and the villagers» 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	Question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 explain	compound
2	:	:	PUNCT	_	4 reference	punct
3	With	with	ADP	_	4 reference	case
4	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Question	appos
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 passage	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 passage	det
7	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reference	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Question	punct
9	explain	explain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	13 failed	advmod
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 fox	det
12	fox	fox	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 failed	nsubj
13	failed	fail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 explain	ccomp
14	to	to	PART	_	15 provide	mark
15	provide	provide	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 failed	xcomp
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 fruit	det
17	promised	promise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	18 fruit	amod
18	fruit	fruit	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 provide	obj
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	9 explain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	explain speech: assert	imperative	you not said here		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	fail	past	the fox		vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
3	not provide	to-infinitive	the fox not said here	the promised fruit	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition fruit=Theme
4	promise speech: promise	participle			vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent

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 · ✓ the right answer

He falsely claimed the fruit was unripe, hoping the tortoise would perish

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 claimed	nsubj
2	falsely	falsely	ADV	_	3 claimed	advmod
3	claimed	claim	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 fruit	det
5	fruit	fruit	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 unripe	nsubj
6	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 unripe	cop
7	unripe	unripe	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 claimed	ccomp
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 hoping	punct
9	hoping	hope	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 claimed	advcl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 tortoise	det
11	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 perish	nsubj
12	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 perish	aux
13	perish	perish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 hoping	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	claim speech: other	past	He	falsely property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	is	past	the fruit	unripe property	tree rules
3	hope	gerund	He not said here		vn long-32.2 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
4	perish	would	the tortoise		vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient

Option 2

He falsely claimed the fruit was unripe, though he had eaten it all himself, hoping the tortoise would perish in the hole

The tree, 22 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 claimed	nsubj
2	falsely	falsely	ADV	_	3 claimed	advmod
3	claimed	claim	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 fruit	det
5	fruit	fruit	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 unripe	nsubj
6	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 unripe	cop
7	unripe	unripe	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 claimed	ccomp
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 eaten	punct
9	though	though	SCONJ	_	12 eaten	mark
10	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 eaten	nsubj
11	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 eaten	aux
12	eaten	eat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	7 unripe	conj
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 eaten	obj
14	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	13 it	det
15	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	12 eaten	obl:agent
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 hoping	punct
17	hoping	hope	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 claimed	advcl
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 tortoise	det
19	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 perish	nsubj
20	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	21 perish	aux
21	perish	perish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	17 hoping	ccomp
22	in	in	ADP	_	24 hole	case
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 hole	det
24	hole	hole	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 perish	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	claim speech: other	past	He			falsely property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	is	past	the fruit			unripe property	tree rules
3	eat	past · perfect	he	fruit			vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient
4	hope	gerund	He not said here				vn long-32.2 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
5	perish	would	the tortoise		the hole		vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient

Option 3

He lied that the fruit was green, hoping the tortoise would die

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 lied	nsubj
2	lied	lie	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 green	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 fruit	det
5	fruit	fruit	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 green	nsubj
6	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 green	cop
7	green	green	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 lied	ccomp
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 hoping	punct
9	hoping	hope	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	13 die	csubj
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 tortoise	det
11	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 hoping	obj
12	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 die	aux
13	die	die	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 lied	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	lie	past	He			vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	is	past	the fruit		green property	tree rules
3	hope	gerund		the tortoise		tree rules
4	die	would	hoping			vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

He said the trees were not yet fruiting, hoping his friend would die

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 said	nsubj
2	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 trees	det
4	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 fruiting	nsubj
5	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 fruiting	aux
6	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	8 fruiting	advmod
7	yet	yet	ADV	_	8 fruiting	advmod
8	fruiting	fruit	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 said	ccomp
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 hoping	punct
10	hoping	hope	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 die	csubj
11	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 friend	nmod:poss
12	friend	friend	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 hoping	obj
13	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 die	aux
14	die	die	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 said	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	say speech: assert	past	He			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	not fruit	past · progressive	the trees		yet	tree rules
3	hope	gerund		his friend		tree rules
4	die	would	hoping			vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute

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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