Exam question 4 · Aesop's Fables, The Miser, part 1: a Miser's buried gold i…

In what manner did the Ass attempt to win his Master's favour?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: his · What happens: do, win, favour · To what, where: Ass attempt, manner, favour

This is exam question 4 of lesson 373 «Aesop's Fables, The Miser, part 1: a Miser's buried gold is stolen, and a stranger gives strange advice» 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	In	in	ADP	_	3 manner	case
2	what	what	DET	PronType=Int	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obl
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 attempt	det
6	Ass	Ass	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 attempt	compound
7	attempt	attempt	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obj
8	to	to	PART	_	9 win	mark
9	win	win	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 attempt	acl
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 favour	nmod:poss
11	Master	Master	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 favour	nmod:poss
12	's	's	PART	_	11 Master	case
13	favour	favour	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 win	obj
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	do	past		the Ass attempt	what manner	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent attempt=Eventuality
2	win	to-infinitive		his favour		vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent favour=Eventuality
3	favour		his = he			nom favour «feeling transitive»: poss=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

By imitating the conduct of the Lap Dog and fawning all over his Master at dinner

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 imitating	mark
2	imitating	imitate	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 conduct	det
4	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 imitating	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 Dog	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Dog	det
7	Lap	Lap	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 Dog	compound
8	Dog	Dog	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 conduct	nmod
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 fawning	cc
10	fawning	fawn	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 imitating	conj
11	all	all	ADV	_	14 Master	advmod
12	over	over	ADP	_	14 Master	case
13	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 Master	nmod:poss
14	Master	master	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 fawning	obj
15	at	at	ADP	_	16 dinner	case
16	dinner	dinner	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 fawning	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	roles by
1	imitate	gerund	the conduct of the Lap Dog		vn patent-101 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent conduct=Theme
2	fawn	gerund	Dog's Master	dinner	tree rules
3	conduct		the Lap Dog		nom conduct «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

By imitating the conduct of the Lap Dog

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 imitating	mark
2	imitating	imitate	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 conduct	det
4	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 imitating	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 Dog	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Dog	det
7	Lap	Lap	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 Dog	compound
8	Dog	Dog	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 conduct	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	imitate	gerund		the conduct of the Lap Dog					vn patent-101 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent conduct=Theme
2	conduct			the Lap Dog					nom conduct «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

By begging like the Shepherd's Dog

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 begging	mark
2	begging	beg	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	like	like	ADP	_	7 Dog	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Shepherd	det
5	Shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 Dog	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 Shepherd	case
7	Dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 begging	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	beg speech: request	gerund						like the Shepherd's Dog	vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent

Option 4

By trying to imitate the conduct of the Lap Dog who sat by the fire every night

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 trying	mark
2	trying	try	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 imitate	mark
4	imitate	imitate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 trying	xcomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 conduct	det
6	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 imitate	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	10 Dog	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Dog	det
9	Lap	Lap	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 Dog	compound
10	Dog	Dog	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 conduct	nmod
11	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 sat	nsubj
12	sat	sit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 conduct	acl:relcl
13	by	by	ADP	_	15 fire	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 fire	det
15	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 sat	obl
16	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	17 night	det
17	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 sat	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	try	gerund					vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
2	imitate not said to happen	to-infinitive		the conduct of the Lap Dog			vn patent-101 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent conduct=Theme
3	sit	past	the conduct of the Lap Dog		night	by the fire	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by fire=Location
4	conduct			the Lap Dog			nom conduct «act transitive»: of=patient

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.

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