Exam question 4 · Aesop's Fables, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse: a to…

With reference to the fable of the Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, explain the moral conveyed by the events of the visit.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: explain, convey · To what, where: moral

This is exam question 4 of lesson 145 «Aesop's Fables, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse: a town visit ends in fright» 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	With	with	ADP	_	2 reference	case
2	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 explain	obl
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 fable	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 fable	det
5	fable	fable	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reference	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 Mouse	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Mouse	det
8	Town	Town	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 Mouse	compound
9	Mouse	mouse	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 fable	nmod
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 Mouse	cc
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Mouse	det
12	Country	Country	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 Mouse	compound
13	Mouse	mouse	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 Mouse	conj
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 reference	punct
15	explain	explain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 moral	det
17	moral	moral	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 explain	obj
18	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	17 moral	acl
19	by	by	ADP	_	21 events	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 events	det
21	events	event	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 conveyed	obl
22	of	of	ADP	_	24 visit	case
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 visit	det
24	visit	visit	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 events	nmod
25	.	.	PUNCT	_	15 explain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	explain speech: assert	imperative	you not said here	the moral				with reference to the fable of the Town Mouse and the Country Mouse	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent moral=Topic
2	convey	participle		the moral not said here				by the events of the visit	vn say-37.7-1-1 «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 · ← Mova's choice

Always be grateful for what you have and never envy others' riches

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	3 grateful	advmod
2	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	3 grateful	cop
3	grateful	grateful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 what	case
5	what	what	PRON	PronType=Rel	3 grateful	obl
6	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	7 have	nsubj
7	have	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 what	acl:relcl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 envy	cc
9	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	10 envy	advmod
10	envy	envy	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 grateful	conj
11	others	other	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 riches	nmod:poss
12	'	's	PART	_	11 others	case
13	riches	rich	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 envy	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	imperative	you not said here		always, grateful property	tree rules
2	have	present	you			vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	not envy	infinitive	you not said here	others's riches		vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer rich=Stimulus

Option 2

A simple life in safety is preferable to a rich life in danger, as the country mouse learned when he returned home to his fields and quiet dinners

The tree, 28 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 life	det
2	simple	simple	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 life	amod
3	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 preferable	nsubj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 safety	case
5	safety	safety	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 life	nmod
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 preferable	cop
7	preferable	preferable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
8	to	to	ADP	_	11 life	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 life	det
10	rich	rich	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 life	amod
11	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 preferable	obl
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 danger	case
13	danger	danger	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 life	nmod
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 learned	punct
15	as	as	SCONJ	_	19 learned	mark
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 mouse	det
17	country	country	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 mouse	compound
18	mouse	mouse	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 learned	nsubj
19	learned	learn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 preferable	conj
20	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	22 returned	advmod
21	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	22 returned	nsubj
22	returned	return	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	19 learned	advcl
23	home	home	ADV	_	22 returned	advmod
24	to	to	ADP	_	26 fields	case
25	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	26 fields	nmod:poss
26	fields	field	NOUN	Number=Plur	22 returned	obl
27	and	and	CCONJ	_	29 dinners	cc
28	quiet	quiet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	29 dinners	amod
29	dinners	dinner	NOUN	Number=Plur	26 fields	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	present	a simple life in safety	to a rich life in danger; preferable property	tree rules
2	learn	past	the country mouse		vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	return	past	mouse	to mouse's fields and quiet dinners result; home property	vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to field=Result

Option 3

Friends should always share everything they have with each other

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Friends	friend	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 share	nsubj
2	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 share	aux
3	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	4 share	advmod
4	share	share	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	everything	everything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Tot	4 share	obj
6	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 have	nsubj
7	have	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 everything	acl:relcl
8	with	with	ADP	_	9 each	case
9	each	each	DET	ExtPos=PRON PronType=Rcp	4 share	obl
10	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 each	fixed

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	share	should	Friends	everything				with each; always property	tree rules
2	have	present	Friends = friend						vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

A simple life in safety is preferable to a rich life in danger

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 life	det
2	simple	simple	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 life	amod
3	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 preferable	nsubj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 safety	case
5	safety	safety	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 life	nmod
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 preferable	cop
7	preferable	preferable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
8	to	to	ADP	_	11 life	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 life	det
10	rich	rich	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 life	amod
11	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 preferable	obl
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 danger	case
13	danger	danger	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 life	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	a simple life in safety					to a rich life in danger; preferable property	tree rules

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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