Exam question 4 · Aesop, The Mistress and Her Servants: they kill the cock a…

Explain the moral conveyed by the tale, with reference to the events described in the text.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: explain, convey, describe · To what, where: moral, events, text

This is exam question 4 of lesson 135 «Aesop, The Mistress and Her Servants: they kill the cock and wake up even earlier» 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	Explain	explain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 moral	det
3	moral	moral	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Explain	obj
4	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 moral	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 tale	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 tale	det
7	tale	tale	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 conveyed	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 reference	punct
9	with	with	ADP	_	10 reference	case
10	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Explain	obl
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 events	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 events	det
13	events	event	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 reference	nmod
14	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 events	acl
15	in	in	ADP	_	17 text	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 text	det
17	text	text	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 described	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Explain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	explain speech: assert	imperative	you not said here	the moral		with reference to the events	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent moral=Topic
2	convey	participle		the moral not said here		by the tale	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	describe	participle		the events not said here	the text		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Removing the cause of an annoyance may not relieve it, and may worsen it

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Removing	remove	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 relieve	csubj
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 cause	det
3	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Removing	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 annoyance	case
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 annoyance	det
6	annoyance	annoyance	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cause	nmod
7	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 relieve	aux
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 relieve	advmod
9	relieve	relieve	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 relieve	obj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 worsen	punct
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 worsen	cc
13	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 worsen	aux
14	worsen	worsen	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 relieve	conj
15	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 worsen	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	remove	gerund		the cause of a annoyance	vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Theme
2	not relieve	may	Removing	cause	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus it=Experiencer
3	worsen	may	Removing not said here	cause	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient
4	cause			a annoyance	nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

Removing the cause of an annoyance may not relieve it, and may worsen it, as the servants discovered to their great cost in the story

The tree, 25 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Removing	remove	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 relieve	csubj
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 cause	det
3	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Removing	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 annoyance	case
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 annoyance	det
6	annoyance	annoyance	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cause	nmod
7	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 relieve	aux
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 relieve	advmod
9	relieve	relieve	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 relieve	obj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 worsen	punct
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 worsen	cc
13	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 worsen	aux
14	worsen	worsen	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 relieve	conj
15	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 worsen	obj
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	20 discovered	punct
17	as	as	SCONJ	_	20 discovered	mark
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 servants	det
19	servants	servant	NOUN	Number=Plur	20 discovered	nsubj
20	discovered	discover	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 relieve	parataxis
21	to	to	ADP	_	24 cost	case
22	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	24 cost	nmod:poss
23	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	24 cost	amod
24	cost	cost	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 discovered	obl
25	in	in	ADP	_	27 story	case
26	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	27 story	det
27	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 discovered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	remove	gerund		the cause of a annoyance			vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Theme
2	not relieve	may	Removing	cause			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus it=Experiencer
3	worsen	may	Removing not said here	cause			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient
4	discover	past	the servants		the story	to servants's great cost	vn discover-84-1 «NP V PP.topic S_ING»: agent=Agent
5	cause			a annoyance			nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient
6	cost		servants = servant				nom cost «possession transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

Killing animals that annoy you is always wise and kind

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Killing	kill	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 wise	csubj
2	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Killing	obj
3	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 annoy	nsubj
4	annoy	annoy	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 animals	acl:relcl
5	you	you	PRON	Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs	4 annoy	obj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 wise	cop
7	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	8 wise	advmod
8	wise	wise	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 kind	cc
10	kind	kind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 wise	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	kill	gerund		animals		vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent animal=Theme
2	annoy	present	animals	you		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus you=Experiencer
3	is	present	Killing		always, wise property	tree rules
4	be		Killing not said here			tree rules

Option 4

Getting rid of an irritating thing is always the best choice, because the servants were right to kill the cock to sleep longer

The tree, 23 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Getting	get	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 choice	csubj
2	rid	rid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Getting	xcomp
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 thing	case
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 thing	det
5	irritating	irritating	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 thing	amod
6	thing	thing	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 rid	obl
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 choice	cop
8	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	11 choice	advmod
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 choice	det
10	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	11 choice	amod
11	choice	choice	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 right	punct
13	because	because	SCONJ	_	17 right	mark
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 servants	det
15	servants	servant	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 right	nsubj
16	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	17 right	cop
17	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 choice	parataxis
18	to	to	PART	_	19 kill	mark
19	kill	kill	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	17 right	csubj
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 cock	det
21	cock	cock	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 kill	obj
22	to	to	PART	_	23 sleep	mark
23	sleep	sleep	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	19 kill	advcl
24	longer	long	ADV	Degree=Cmp	23 sleep	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	get	gerund			rid property	vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer
2	is a	present	Getting	the best choice	always property	tree rules
3	is	past	the servants		right property	tree rules
4	kill	to-infinitive		the cock		vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cock=Theme
5	sleep	to-infinitive			long property	vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

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