Exam question 1 · Aesop's Fables, The Cat and the Cock: a cat invents an exc…

Which reason does the Cat give for seizing the Cock in the tale?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: reason · What happens: give, seize · To what, where: Cock, tale

This is exam question 1 of lesson 386 «Aesop's Fables, The Cat and the Cock: a cat invents an excuse to eat a cock, and a wolf in sheep's clothing is killed by mistake» 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	DET	PronType=Int	2 reason	det
2	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	nsubj:outer
3	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 give	aux
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Cat	det
5	Cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	nsubj
6	give	give	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	for	for	SCONJ	_	8 seizing	mark
8	seizing	seize	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 give	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Cock	det
10	Cock	Cock	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 seizing	obj
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 tale	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 tale	det
13	tale	tale	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 seizing	obl
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 give	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	present · do-support	which reason						vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	seize	gerund	which reason not said here	the Cock		the tale			vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cock=Theme

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

He says the Cock disturbs the sleep of men, and also he wants to eat the Cock for his supper

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 says	nsubj
2	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Cock	det
4	Cock	cock	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 disturbs	nsubj
5	disturbs	disturb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 says	ccomp
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sleep	det
7	sleep	sleep	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 disturbs	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 men	case
9	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 sleep	nmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 wants	punct
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 wants	cc
12	also	also	ADV	_	14 wants	advmod
13	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 wants	nsubj
14	wants	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 says	conj
15	to	to	PART	_	16 eat	mark
16	eat	eat	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 wants	xcomp
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 Cock	det
18	Cock	cock	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 eat	obj
19	for	for	ADP	_	21 supper	case
20	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	21 supper	nmod:poss
21	supper	supper	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 eat	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	He			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	disturb	present	the Cock	the sleep of men		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus sleep=Experiencer
3	want	present	Cock			vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
4	eat not said to happen	to-infinitive	Cock not said here	the Cock	for Cock's supper	vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cock=Patient
5	sleep		men			nom sleep «state intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

He says the Cock is an annoying thief

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 says	nsubj
2	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Cock	det
4	Cock	cock	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 thief	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 thief	cop
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 thief	det
7	annoying	annoying	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 thief	amod
8	thief	thief	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 says	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	He						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	is a	present	the Cock	a annoying thief					tree rules

Option 3

He insists the Cock steals the farmer's grain

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 insists	nsubj
2	insists	insist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Cock	det
4	Cock	cock	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 steals	nsubj
5	steals	steal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 insists	ccomp
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 farmer	det
7	farmer	farmer	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 grain	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 farmer	case
9	grain	grain	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 steals	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	insist speech: other	present	He						vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	steal	present	the Cock	the farmer's grain					vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location grain=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He claims the Cock disturbs the sleep of men

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 claims	nsubj
2	claims	claim	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Cock	det
4	Cock	cock	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 disturbs	nsubj
5	disturbs	disturb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 claims	ccomp
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sleep	det
7	sleep	sleep	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 disturbs	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 men	case
9	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 sleep	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	claim speech: other	present	He		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	disturb	present	the Cock	the sleep of men	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus sleep=Experiencer
3	sleep		men		nom sleep «state 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.

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