Exam question 4 · Tales of Rome, Horatius at the Bridge: Horatius holds the…

What moral lesson does the tale of Damocles convey regarding the condition of rulers, according to the closing words of the narrative?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: tale · What happens: do, convey, regard, accord, condition, word · To what, where: tale, rulers, narrative

This is exam question 4 of lesson 352 «Tales of Rome, Horatius at the Bridge: Horatius holds the bridge alone and saves Rome from Porsena's army» 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	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	root	root
2	moral	moral	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 lesson	amod
3	lesson	lesson	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	nsubj
4	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 What	acl:relcl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 tale	det
6	tale	tale	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 does	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 Damocles	case
8	Damocles	Damocles	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 convey	obl
9	convey	convey	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 tale	acl:relcl
10	regarding	regard	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 condition	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 condition	det
12	condition	condition	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 convey	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	14 rulers	case
14	rulers	ruler	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 condition	nmod
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	20 words	punct
16	according	accord	VERB	ExtPos=ADP Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	20 words	case
17	to	to	ADP	_	16 according	fixed
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 words	det
19	closing	closing	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 words	compound
20	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 rulers	conj
21	of	of	ADP	_	23 narrative	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 narrative	det
23	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 words	nmod
24	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 What	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	do	present		the tale		vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tale=Eventuality
2	convey	present	the tale not said here		of Damocles; regard the condition of rulers and the closing words of the narrative	vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent of damocles=Initial_Location
3	regard	gerund				vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	accord	gerund				vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent
5	condition			rulers and the closing words of the narrative		nom condition «state transitive»: of=patient
6	word			the narrative		nom word «communication transitive»: of=patient

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

That kings are cruel

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 kings	det
2	kings	king	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 cruel	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 cruel	cop
4	cruel	cruel	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	that kings					cruel property	tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Rulers should be feared

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Rulers	ruler	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 feared	nsubj:pass
2	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 feared	aux
3	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 feared	aux:pass
4	feared	fear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fear	should · passive		Rulers					vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

That the rich and powerful are not so happy as they seem, since they live in constant dread of harm

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	9 happy	nsubj
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 happy	det
3	rich	rich	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 happy	nsubj
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 powerful	cc
5	powerful	powerful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 rich	conj
6	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 happy	cop
7	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 happy	advmod
8	so	so	ADV	_	9 happy	advmod
9	happy	happy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
10	as	as	SCONJ	_	12 seem	mark
11	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 seem	nsubj
12	seem	seem	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 happy	advcl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 live	punct
14	since	since	SCONJ	_	16 live	mark
15	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 live	nsubj
16	live	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 happy	parataxis
17	in	in	ADP	_	19 dread	case
18	constant	constant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 dread	amod
19	dread	dread	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 live	obl
20	of	of	ADP	_	21 harm	case
21	harm	harm	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 dread	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	not is	present	That			happy property	tree rules
2	seem	present	they				vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Theme
3	live	present	they		constant dread of harm		vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in dread=Location
4	dread			harm			nom dread «feeling transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

That the poor are not so sad as they seem, since they live in quiet hope of rest

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	7 sad	nsubj
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 poor	det
3	poor	poor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 That	obj
4	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 sad	cop
5	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	7 sad	advmod
6	so	so	ADV	_	7 sad	advmod
7	sad	sad	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
8	as	as	SCONJ	_	10 seem	mark
9	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 seem	nsubj
10	seem	seem	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 sad	advcl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 live	punct
12	since	since	SCONJ	_	14 live	mark
13	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 live	nsubj
14	live	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 sad	advcl
15	in	in	ADP	_	17 hope	case
16	quiet	quiet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 hope	amod
17	hope	hope	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 live	obl
18	of	of	ADP	_	19 rest	case
19	rest	rest	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 hope	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	not is	present	That		sad property	tree rules
2	seem	present	they			vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Theme
3	live	present	they	quiet hope of rest		vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in hope=Location
4	hope		rest			nom hope «feeling intransitive»: of=agent

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/352-pg18442-part12/e4/