Exam question 2 · Aesop for Children, The North Wind and the Sun: a cloak se…

Which of the following best characterises the moral conveyed by the fable?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: best · What happens: follow, characteris, convey · To what, where: moral

This is exam question 2 of lesson 378 «Aesop for Children, The North Wind and the Sun: a cloak settles the quarrel» 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	6 characterises	obj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 best	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 best	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 best	case
5	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	6 characterises	nsubj
6	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 moral	det
8	moral	moral	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 characterises	obj
9	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 moral	acl
10	by	by	ADP	_	12 fable	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 fable	det
12	fable	fable	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 conveyed	obl
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the best	the moral		tree rules
3	convey	participle		the moral not said here	by the fable	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

Winners are always the ones who speak softly, persuade gently, and never once raise their voices in a quarrel.

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Winners	winner	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 ones	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 ones	cop
3	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	5 ones	advmod
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 ones	det
5	ones	one	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
6	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 speak	nsubj
7	speak	speak	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 ones	acl:relcl
8	softly	softly	ADV	_	7 speak	advmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 persuade	punct
10	persuade	persuade	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 speak	conj
11	gently	gently	ADV	_	10 persuade	advmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 raise	punct
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 raise	cc
14	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	15 once	advmod
15	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	16 raise	advmod
16	raise	raise	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	5 ones	parataxis
17	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 voices	nmod:poss
18	voices	voice	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 raise	obj
19	in	in	ADP	_	21 quarrel	case
20	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	21 quarrel	det
21	quarrel	quarrel	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 raise	obl
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 ones	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Winners	the ones		always property	tree rules
2	speak speech: other	present	the ones			softly property	vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	persuade	infinitive	the ones not said here			gently property	vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	raise	infinitive		Winners's voices	a quarrel	once property	vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent voice=Theme in quarrel=Destination

Option 2

Gentle persuasion always succeeds, but only when the coercion of the wind is never used against anyone at all.

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Gentle	gentle	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 persuasion	amod
2	persuasion	persuasion	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 succeeds	nsubj
3	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	4 succeeds	advmod
4	succeeds	succeed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 used	punct
6	but	but	CCONJ	_	16 used	cc
7	only	only	ADV	_	16 used	advmod
8	when	when	SCONJ	_	16 used	mark
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 coercion	det
10	coercion	coercion	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 used	nsubj:pass
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 wind	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 wind	det
13	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 coercion	nmod
14	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 used	aux:pass
15	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	16 used	advmod
16	used	use	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 succeeds	advcl
17	against	against	ADP	_	18 anyone	case
18	anyone	anyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	16 used	obl:agent
19	at	at	ADP	_	20 all	case
20	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	18 anyone	nmod
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 succeeds	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	succeed	present	Gentle persuasion		always property	vn succeed-74-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	not use	present · passive	anyone	the coercion of the wind		vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient
3	coerce			the wind		nom coercion «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Gentle persuasion succeeds where coercion fails.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Gentle	gentle	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 persuasion	amod
2	persuasion	persuasion	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 succeeds	nsubj
3	succeeds	succeed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	6 fails	advmod
5	coercion	coercion	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 fails	nsubj
6	fails	fail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 succeeds	advcl
7	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 succeeds	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	succeed	present	Gentle persuasion						vn succeed-74-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	fail	present	coercion						vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

Kind influence wins where forceful pressure does not.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Kind	kind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 influence	amod
2	influence	influence	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 wins	nsubj
3	wins	win	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	7 does	advmod
5	forceful	forceful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 pressure	amod
6	pressure	pressure	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 does	nsubj
7	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 wins	advcl
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	7 does	advmod
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 wins	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	win	present	Kind influence						vn succeed-74-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	not do	present	forceful pressure						vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

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