Exam question 1 · Aesop's Fables, The Ass and the Lap-dog: the jealous Ass w…

Which action does the Ass perform immediately before the servants beat him with sticks and cudgels?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: action, Ass, servants · What happens: do, perform, beat · To what, where: action

This is exam question 1 of lesson 136 «Aesop's Fables, The Ass and the Lap-dog: the jealous Ass wrecks the master's dinner and is beaten» 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	Which	which	DET	PronType=Int	2 action	det
2	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 does	nsubj
3	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Ass	det
5	Ass	As	PROPN	Number=Plur	6 perform	nsubj
6	perform	perform	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 does	ccomp
7	immediately	immediately	ADV	_	6 perform	advmod
8	before	before	SCONJ	_	11 beat	mark
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 servants	det
10	servants	servant	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 beat	nsubj
11	beat	beat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 perform	advcl
12	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 beat	obj
13	with	with	ADP	_	14 sticks	case
14	sticks	stick	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 beat	obl
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 cudgels	cc
16	cudgels	cudgel	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 sticks	conj
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 does	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	do	present	which action			tree rules
2	perform	present	the Ass		immediately property	vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	beat	present	the servants	action	with sticks and cudgels	vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent he=Patient with stick=Instrument

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

He tries to hop on the dinner

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 tries	nsubj
2	tries	try	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 hop	mark
4	hop	hop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 tries	xcomp
5	on	on	ADP	_	7 dinner	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 dinner	det
7	dinner	dinner	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 hop	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	try	present	He						vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
2	hop not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here			the dinner			vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on dinner=Trajectory

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

He attempts to jump upon his master's lap

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 attempts	nsubj
2	attempts	attempt	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 jump	mark
4	jump	jump	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 attempts	xcomp
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 lap	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 master	nmod:poss
7	master	master	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 lap	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 master	case
9	lap	lap	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 jump	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attempt	present	He						vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
2	jump not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here			his master's lap			vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon lap=Trajectory

Option 3

He runs round the room and then attempts to jump upon his master's lap

The tree, 15 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	2 runs	nsubj
2	runs	run	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	round	round	ADP	_	5 room	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 room	det
5	room	room	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 runs	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 attempts	cc
7	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	8 attempts	advmod
8	attempts	attempt	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 runs	conj
9	to	to	PART	_	10 jump	mark
10	jump	jump	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 attempts	xcomp
11	upon	upon	ADP	_	15 lap	case
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 master	nmod:poss
13	master	master	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 lap	nmod:poss
14	's	's	PART	_	13 master	case
15	lap	lap	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 jump	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	when	roles by
1	run	present	He	the room		vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme round room=Trajectory
2	attempt	present	He not said here		then	vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
3	jump not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here	his master's lap		vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon lap=Trajectory

Option 4

He leaps onto the table cloth

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 leaps	nsubj
2	leaps	leap	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	onto	onto	ADP	_	6 cloth	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 cloth	det
5	table	table	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 cloth	compound
6	cloth	cloth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 leaps	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	leap	present	He			the table cloth			vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme onto cloth=Trajectory

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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