Exam question 2 · Aesop for Children, The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf: a bored…

With reference to the text, state the principal moral conveyed by the fable in the concluding sentence.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: convey · To what, where: principal moral

This is exam question 2 of lesson 364 «Aesop for Children, The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf: a bored boy cries "Wolf!" for fun until a real wolf comes» 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	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 text	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 text	det
5	text	text	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reference	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 state	punct
7	state	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 text	appos
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 moral	det
9	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 moral	amod
10	moral	moral	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 state	nmod
11	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 moral	acl
12	by	by	ADP	_	14 fable	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 fable	det
14	fable	fable	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 conveyed	obl
15	in	in	ADP	_	18 sentence	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 sentence	det
17	concluding	concluding	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 sentence	compound
18	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 fable	nmod
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 reference	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	convey	participle		the principal moral not said here				by the fable in the concluding sentence	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

Those who lie are always caught out in time

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Those	that	PRON	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	6 caught	nsubj:pass
2	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	3 lie	nsubj
3	lie	lie	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Those	acl:relcl
4	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 caught	aux:pass
5	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	6 caught	advmod
6	caught	catch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	out	out	ADP	_	6 caught	compound:prt
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 time	case
9	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 caught	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lie	present							vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	catch out	present · passive		Those			time	always property	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Liars are not believed even when they speak the truth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Liars	liar	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 believed	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 believed	aux:pass
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 believed	advmod
4	believed	believe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	even	even	ADV	_	8 speak	advmod
6	when	when	SCONJ	_	8 speak	mark
7	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 speak	nsubj
8	speak	speak	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 believed	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 truth	det
10	truth	truth	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 speak	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not believe	present · passive		Liars					vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus
2	speak speech: other	present	Liars = liar	the truth					tree rules

Option 3

Shepherds should never leave their flock alone at night, since wolves can attack at any moment and villagers will not help

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Shepherds	shepherd	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 leave	nsubj
2	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 leave	aux
3	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	4 leave	advmod
4	leave	leave	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 flock	nmod:poss
6	flock	flock	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 leave	obj
7	alone	alone	ADV	_	4 leave	advmod
8	at	at	ADP	_	9 night	case
9	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 leave	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 attack	punct
11	since	since	SCONJ	_	14 attack	mark
12	wolves	wolf	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 attack	nsubj
13	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 attack	aux
14	attack	attack	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	22 help	conj
15	at	at	ADP	_	17 moment	case
16	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	17 moment	det
17	moment	moment	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 attack	obl
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 villagers	cc
19	villagers	villager	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 moment	conj
20	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	22 help	aux
21	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	22 help	advmod
22	help	help	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 leave	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	not leave	should	Shepherds	Shepherds's flock	night	alone property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flock=Theme
2	attack	can	wolves		moment		vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	not help	future	Shepherds not said here				vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent

Option 4

A person who makes up stories for fun will find that the villagers never trust anything he says, so he must be careful

The tree, 23 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 person	det
2	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 find	nsubj
3	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 makes	nsubj
4	makes	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 person	acl:relcl
5	up	up	ADP	_	4 makes	compound:prt
6	stories	story	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 makes	obj
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 fun	case
8	fun	fun	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 makes	obl
9	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 find	aux
10	find	find	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
11	that	that	SCONJ	_	15 trust	mark
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 villagers	det
13	villagers	villager	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 trust	nsubj
14	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	15 trust	advmod
15	trust	trust	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 find	ccomp
16	anything	anything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	15 trust	obj
17	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 says	nsubj
18	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 anything	acl:relcl
19	,	,	PUNCT	_	24 careful	punct
20	so	so	ADV	_	24 careful	advmod
21	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	24 careful	nsubj
22	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	24 careful	aux
23	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	24 careful	cop
24	careful	careful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 find	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	make up	present	a person	stories	for fun	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme story=Pivot
2	find	future	a person			vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
3	not trust	present	the villagers	anything		vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Theme
4	say speech: assert	present	person			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
5	is	must	person		careful 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/364-pg19994-part3/e2/