Exam question 4 · Aesop's Fables, The Blacksmith and His Dog: the lazy dog i…

Which quality does the old Peasant's Ass display when offered the chance to flee with its master?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: quality, old Peasant · What happens: do, offer, flee, display · To what, where: Ass display, chance

This is exam question 4 of lesson 141 «Aesop's Fables, The Blacksmith and His Dog: the lazy dog is fed only when the work stops» 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 quality	det
2	quality	quality	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	6 Peasant	det
5	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 Peasant	amod
6	Peasant	Peasant	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 display	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 Peasant	case
8	Ass	ass	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 display	compound
9	display	display	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 does	obj
10	when	when	SCONJ	_	11 offered	mark
11	offered	offer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 does	advcl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 chance	det
13	chance	chance	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 offered	obj
14	to	to	PART	_	15 flee	mark
15	flee	flee	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 chance	acl
16	with	with	ADP	_	18 master	case
17	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 master	nmod:poss
18	master	master	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 flee	obl
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 does	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	do	present	which quality	the old Peasant's Ass display		vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent display=Eventuality
2	offer	participle	which quality not said here	the chance		vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent chance=Theme
3	flee	to-infinitive	which quality not said here	the chance not said here	with quality's master	vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	display		the old Peasant			nom display «communication transitive»: poss=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

Indifference to the consequences of being captured by the enemy, along with a firm refusal to carry any load

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Indifference	Indifference	PROPN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	to	to	ADP	_	4 consequences	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 consequences	det
4	consequences	consequence	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Indifference	nmod
5	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 captured	mark
6	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 captured	aux:pass
7	captured	capture	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 consequences	acl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 enemy	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 enemy	det
10	enemy	enemy	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 captured	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 refusal	punct
12	along	along	ADP	_	16 refusal	case
13	with	with	ADP	_	16 refusal	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 refusal	det
15	firm	firm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 refusal	amod
16	refusal	refusal	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 enemy	appos
17	to	to	PART	_	18 carry	mark
18	carry	carry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	16 refusal	acl
19	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	20 load	det
20	load	load	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 carry	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	capture	gerund · passive	the enemy	the consequences not said here					vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	carry	to-infinitive	the enemy not said here	any load					vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent load=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Indifference to the consequences of being captured by the enemy

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Indifference	Indifference	PROPN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	to	to	ADP	_	4 consequences	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 consequences	det
4	consequences	consequence	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Indifference	nmod
5	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 captured	mark
6	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 captured	aux:pass
7	captured	capture	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 consequences	acl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 enemy	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 enemy	det
10	enemy	enemy	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 captured	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	capture	gerund · passive	the enemy	the consequences not said here					vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Indifference to the consequences of being captured by the enemy, which the old Peasant had long admired

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Indifference	Indifference	PROPN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	to	to	ADP	_	4 consequences	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 consequences	det
4	consequences	consequence	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Indifference	nmod
5	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 captured	mark
6	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 captured	aux:pass
7	captured	capture	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 consequences	acl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 enemy	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 enemy	det
10	enemy	enemy	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 captured	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 admired	punct
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	18 admired	obj
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 Peasant	det
14	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 Peasant	amod
15	Peasant	Peasant	PROPN	Number=Sing	18 admired	nsubj:pass
16	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	18 admired	aux
17	long	long	ADV	Degree=Pos	18 admired	advmod
18	admired	admire	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 enemy	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	capture	gerund · passive	the enemy	the consequences not said here					vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	admire	past · perfect · passive		the old Peasant				long property	tree rules

Option 4

Anxiety about being abandoned by his master in battle

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Anxiety	anxiety	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	about	about	SCONJ	_	4 abandoned	mark
3	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 abandoned	aux:pass
4	abandoned	abandon	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Anxiety	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 master	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	4 abandoned	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 battle	case
9	battle	battle	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 master	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	abandon	gerund · passive	his master in battle	Anxiety not said here					vn leave-51.2 «NP V NP.initial_location»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/141-pg11339-part11/e4/