Exam question 1 · Aesop's Fables, The Lion and the Ass, part 14: a boastful…

By what means does the Trumpeter encourage his comrades in the van of the army?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Trumpeter · What happens: mean, encourage · To what, where: comrades, van

This is exam question 1 of lesson 144 «Aesop's Fables, The Lion and the Ass, part 14: a boastful Ass, a robbed Prophet, and other clever beasts» 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	By	by	ADP	_	2 what	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 encourage	obl
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 encourage	aux
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Trumpeter	det
6	Trumpeter	Trumpeter	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 encourage	nsubj
7	encourage	encourage	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
8	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 comrades	nmod:poss
9	comrades	comrade	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 encourage	obj
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 van	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 van	det
12	van	van	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 encourage	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 army	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 army	det
15	army	army	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 van	nmod
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 encourage	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present							vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	encourage	present · do-support	the Trumpeter	Trumpeter's comrades		the van of the army			vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent comrade=Theme

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

By sounding martial notes on his horn

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 sounding	mark
2	sounding	sound	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	martial	martial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 notes	amod
4	notes	note	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 sounding	obj
5	on	on	ADP	_	7 horn	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 horn	nmod:poss
7	horn	horn	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sounding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sound	gerund		martial notes		his horn			vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location note=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

By playing warlike tunes upon his trumpet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 playing	mark
2	playing	play	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	root	root
3	warlike	warlike	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 tunes	amod
4	tunes	tune	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 playing	obj
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 trumpet	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 trumpet	nmod:poss
7	trumpet	trumpet	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 playing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	play	gerund		warlike tunes				upon his trumpet	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tune=Theme

Option 3

By playing warlike tunes upon his trumpet, so that the men in the van rush forward bravely

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 playing	mark
2	playing	play	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	16 rush	advcl
3	warlike	warlike	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 tunes	amod
4	tunes	tune	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 playing	obj
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 trumpet	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 trumpet	nmod:poss
7	trumpet	trumpet	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 playing	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 rush	punct
9	so	so	SCONJ	_	16 rush	mark
10	that	that	SCONJ	_	16 rush	mark
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 men	det
12	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 rush	nsubj
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 van	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 van	det
15	van	van	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 men	nmod
16	rush	rush	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
17	forward	forward	ADV	_	16 rush	advmod
18	bravely	bravely	ADV	_	16 rush	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	play	gerund	the men in the van not said here	warlike tunes				upon his trumpet	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tune=Theme
2	rush	present	the men in the van					bravely, forward property	vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

By playing warlike tunes upon his trumpet to cheer on the soldiers at the front

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 playing	mark
2	playing	play	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	root	root
3	warlike	warlike	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 tunes	amod
4	tunes	tune	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 playing	obj
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 trumpet	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 trumpet	nmod:poss
7	trumpet	trumpet	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 playing	obl
8	to	to	PART	_	9 cheer	mark
9	cheer	cheer	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 playing	advcl
10	on	on	ADP	_	12 soldiers	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 soldiers	det
12	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 cheer	obl
13	at	at	ADP	_	15 front	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 front	det
15	front	front	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 cheer	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	play	gerund		warlike tunes				upon his trumpet	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tune=Theme
2	cheer	to-infinitive				the soldiers		at the front	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

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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