Exam question 3 · Aesop's Fables, The Farmer and the Stork, part 16: eight s…

State the principal moral conveyed by the tale in which the Owl deceives the Grasshopper for the purpose of obtaining a meal.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: Owl, purpose · What happens: convey, deceive, obtain · To what, where: State principal moral, Grasshopper, tale, meal

This is exam question 3 of lesson 146 «Aesop's Fables, The Farmer and the Stork, part 16: eight short animal tales about greed, pride, and bad company» 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	State	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 moral	compound
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 moral	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 moral	amod
4	moral	moral	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 moral	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 tale	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 tale	det
8	tale	tale	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 conveyed	obl
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 which	case
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 deceives	obl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Owl	det
12	Owl	Owl	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 deceives	nsubj
13	deceives	deceive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 tale	parataxis
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 Grasshopper	det
15	Grasshopper	Grasshopper	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 deceives	obj
16	for	for	ADP	_	18 purpose	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 purpose	det
18	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 deceives	obl
19	of	of	SCONJ	_	20 obtaining	mark
20	obtaining	obtain	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	18 purpose	acl
21	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	22 meal	det
22	meal	meal	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 obtaining	obj
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 moral	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	convey	participle		the State principal moral not said here		by the tale	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	deceive	present	the Owl	the Grasshopper	the tale	for the purpose	vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grasshopper=Patient
3	obtain	gerund	the purpose not said here	a meal			vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset meal=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 · ✓ the right answer

False confidence often leads to disaster

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	False	false	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 confidence	amod
2	confidence	confidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 leads	nsubj
3	often	often	ADV	_	4 leads	advmod
4	leads	lead	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	6 disaster	case
6	disaster	disaster	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 leads	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lead	present	False confidence					to disaster; often property	vn result-27.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Precondition to disaster=Patient

Option 2

Trust in flattery brings a meal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Trust	trust	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 brings	nsubj
2	in	in	ADP	_	3 flattery	case
3	flattery	flattery	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Trust	nmod
4	brings	bring	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 meal	det
6	meal	meal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 brings	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bring	present	Trust in flattery	a meal					vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent meal=Theme

Option 3

Flattery can bring a good meal to you

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Flattery	flattery	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 bring	nsubj
2	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 bring	aux
3	bring	bring	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 meal	det
5	good	good	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 meal	amod
6	meal	meal	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 bring	obj
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 you	case
8	you	you	PRON	Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs	3 bring	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bring	can	Flattery	a good meal	you				vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent meal=Theme to you=Destination

Option 4

Flattery is harmless

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Flattery	flattery	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 harmless	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 harmless	cop
3	harmless	harmless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Flattery					harmless 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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