Exam question 2 · Aesop's Fables, The Lion in Love: a lion wins a cottager's…

By what expedient did the Cottager secure his daughter's safety?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: expedient, Cottager · What happens: do, secure · To what, where: safety

This is exam question 2 of lesson 152 «Aesop's Fables, The Lion in Love: a lion wins a cottager's daughter by giving up his teeth and claws» 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 secure	obl
3	expedient	expedient	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	nsubj
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Cottager	det
6	Cottager	cottager	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 secure	nsubj
7	secure	secure	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 daughter	nmod:poss
9	daughter	daughter	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 safety	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 daughter	case
11	safety	safety	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 secure	obj
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 secure	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	do	past	expedient						vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	secure	past	the Cottager	Cottager's daughter's safety					vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition safety=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 inviting the suitor to dinner and then disarming him in secret

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 inviting	mark
2	inviting	invite	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 suitor	det
4	suitor	suitor	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 inviting	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	6 dinner	case
6	dinner	dinner	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 inviting	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 disarming	cc
8	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	9 disarming	advmod
9	disarming	disarm	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 inviting	conj
10	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 disarming	obj
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 secret	case
12	secret	secret	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 disarming	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	invite	gerund		the suitor				to dinner	vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent suitor=Recipient
2	disarm	gerund		him = he		secret	then		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer

Option 2

By bribing the lion's friends

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 bribing	mark
2	bribing	bribe	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 lion	det
4	lion	lion	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 friends	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 lion	case
6	friends	friend	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 bribing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bribe	gerund		the lion's friends					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friend=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

By disarming the suitor

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 disarming	mark
2	disarming	disarm	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 suitor	det
4	suitor	suitor	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 disarming	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disarm	gerund		the suitor					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus suitor=Experiencer

Option 4

By hiding in the barn

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 hiding	mark
2	hiding	hide	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 barn	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 barn	det
5	barn	barn	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 hiding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hide	gerund				the barn			vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in barn=Location

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/152-pg11339-part22/e2/