Exam question 1 · Aesop's Fables, The Wily Lion, part 24: a lion tricks a bu…

Which of the following accurately identifies the means by which the Lion obtained the Bull's loss of defence?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: the, Lion · What happens: follow, identify, mean, obtain · To what, where: loss · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 1 of lesson 154 «Aesop's Fables, The Wily Lion, part 24: a lion tricks a bull, a parrot scolds a cat, a stag and a sick man get their comeuppance» 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	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 following	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 following	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 following	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	6 identifies	advmod
6	identifies	identify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 following	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 means	nsubj
8	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 identifies	ccomp
9	by	by	ADP	_	10 which	case
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 obtained	obl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Lion	det
12	Lion	Lion	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 obtained	nsubj
13	obtained	obtain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 means	ccomp
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 Bull	det
15	Bull	Bull	PROPN	Number=Sing	17 loss	nmod:poss
16	's	's	PART	_	15 Bull	case
17	loss	loss	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 obtained	obj
18	of	of	ADP	_	19 defence	case
19	defence	defence	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 loss	nmod
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 following	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	identify	present			accurately property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
3	mean	present	the			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
4	obtain	past	the Lion	the Bull's loss of defence		vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent loss=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 threats, persuading the Bull to keep his horns

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	ADP	_	2 threats	case
2	threats	threat	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 persuading	punct
4	persuading	persuade	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 threats	acl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Bull	det
6	Bull	bull	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 persuading	obj
7	to	to	PART	_	8 keep	mark
8	keep	keep	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 persuading	advcl
9	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 horns	nmod:poss
10	horns	horn	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 keep	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	persuade	gerund	threats not said here	the Bull					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bull=Patient
2	keep	to-infinitive	threats not said here	Bull's horns					vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horn=Theme

Option 2

by flattery, persuading the Bull to remove his horns and then attacking him when he was defenceless

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	ADP	_	2 flattery	case
2	flattery	flattery	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 persuading	punct
4	persuading	persuade	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 flattery	acl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Bull	det
6	Bull	bull	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 persuading	obj
7	to	to	PART	_	8 remove	mark
8	remove	remove	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 persuading	advcl
9	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 horns	nmod:poss
10	horns	horn	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 remove	obj
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 attacking	cc
12	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	13 attacking	advmod
13	attacking	attack	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 flattery	conj
14	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 attacking	obj
15	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	18 defenceless	advmod
16	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 defenceless	nsubj
17	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	18 defenceless	cop
18	defenceless	defenceless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 attacking	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	persuade	gerund	flattery not said here	the Bull			vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bull=Patient
2	remove	to-infinitive	flattery not said here	Bull's horns			vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horn=Theme
3	attack	gerund		Bull	then		vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient
4	is	past	Bull			defenceless property	tree rules

Option 3

by flattery and sweet words, persuading the Bull to remove his horns for the sake of his looks

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	ADP	_	2 flattery	case
2	flattery	flattery	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 persuading	obl
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 words	cc
4	sweet	sweet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 words	amod
5	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 flattery	conj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 flattery	punct
7	persuading	persuade	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Bull	det
9	Bull	bull	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 persuading	obj
10	to	to	PART	_	11 remove	mark
11	remove	remove	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 persuading	advcl
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 horns	nmod:poss
13	horns	horn	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 remove	obj
14	for	for	ADP	_	16 sake	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 sake	det
16	sake	sake	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 remove	obl
17	of	of	ADP	_	19 looks	case
18	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	19 looks	nmod:poss
19	looks	look	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 sake	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	persuade	gerund		the Bull				by flattery and sweet words	vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bull=Patient
2	remove	to-infinitive		Bull's horns				for the sake of Bull's looks	vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horn=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

by flattery, persuading the Bull to remove his horns

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	ADP	_	2 flattery	case
2	flattery	flattery	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 persuading	punct
4	persuading	persuade	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 flattery	acl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Bull	det
6	Bull	bull	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 persuading	obj
7	to	to	PART	_	8 remove	mark
8	remove	remove	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 persuading	advcl
9	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 horns	nmod:poss
10	horns	horn	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 remove	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	persuade	gerund	flattery not said here	the Bull					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bull=Patient
2	remove	to-infinitive	flattery not said here	Bull's horns					vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horn=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/154-pg11339-part24/e1/