Exam question 2 · Aesop's Fables, The Fox and the Cock, part 9: the Fox runs…

What moral is expressed by the tale of the Mule concerning ancestry?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: tale, Mule · What happens: express, concern, tell · To what, where: moral, ancestry · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 370 «Aesop's Fables, The Fox and the Cock, part 9: the Fox runs off, the Cock wins, and more beast tales follow» 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	4 expressed	obj
2	moral	moral	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 expressed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 expressed	aux:pass
4	expressed	express	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 tale	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 tale	det
7	tale	tale	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 expressed	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 Mule	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Mule	det
10	Mule	mule	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 tale	nmod
11	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 Mule	acl
12	ancestry	ancestry	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 concerning	obj
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 expressed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	express	present · passive	the tale of the Mule	moral	vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent subject=Destination what=Theme
2	concern	gerund	the Mule not said here	ancestry	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus ancestry=Experiencer
3	tell		the Mule		nom tale «communication intransitive»: of=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

One should check one's ancestry before claiming it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	One	one	PRON	Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 check	nsubj
2	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 check	aux
3	check	check	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	one	one	PRON	Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 ancestry	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 one	case
6	ancestry	ancestry	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 check	obj
7	before	before	SCONJ	_	8 claiming	mark
8	claiming	claim	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 check	advcl
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 claiming	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	check	should	One	one's ancestry					vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ancestry=Theme
2	claim speech: other	gerund	One not said here	ancestry					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent it=Topic

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

One must verify one's lineage before claiming it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	One	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 verify	nsubj
2	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 verify	aux
3	verify	verify	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	one	one	PRON	Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 lineage	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 one	case
6	lineage	lineage	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 verify	obj
7	before	before	SCONJ	_	8 claiming	mark
8	claiming	claim	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 verify	advcl
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 claiming	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	verify	must	One	one's lineage					vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot lineage=Topic
2	claim speech: other	gerund	One not said here	lineage					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent it=Topic

Option 3

Verify your family tree before you brag

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Verify	verify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	your	your	PRON	Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 tree	nmod:poss
3	family	family	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 tree	compound
4	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Verify	obj
5	before	before	SCONJ	_	7 brag	mark
6	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	7 brag	nsubj
7	brag	brag	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Verify	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	verify	imperative	you not said here	your family tree					vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot tree=Topic
2	brag speech: other	present	you						vn complain-37.8 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Boast freely always

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Boast	boast	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	freely	freely	ADV	_	3 always	advmod
3	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	1 Boast	advmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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/370-pg19994-part9/e2/