Exam question 3 · Aesop's Fables, The Cat and the Cock: a cat invents an exc…

By what mistake does the shepherd cause the death of the Wolf?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Wolf · What happens: do, cause, die · To what, where: shepherd, death

This is exam question 3 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	By	by	ADP	_	3 mistake	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 mistake	nsubj
3	mistake	mistake	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 does	obl
4	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 shepherd	det
6	shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 does	obj
7	cause	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 does	conj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 death	det
9	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 cause	obj
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 Wolf	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Wolf	det
12	Wolf	Wolf	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 death	nmod
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 does	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	do	present		the shepherd	by mistake	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shepherd=Eventuality
2	cause	present		the death of the Wolf		vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition death=Patient
3	die		the Wolf			nom death «event 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

He seizes the Wolf in the dark, mistaking him for a sheep, because he could not see clearly

The tree, 18 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 seizes	nsubj
2	seizes	seize	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Wolf	det
4	Wolf	Wolf	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 seizes	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 dark	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 dark	det
7	dark	dark	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 seizes	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 mistaking	punct
9	mistaking	mistake	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 seizes	advcl
10	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 mistaking	obj
11	for	for	ADP	_	13 sheep	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 sheep	det
13	sheep	sheep	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 mistaking	obl
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 see	punct
15	because	because	SCONJ	_	19 see	mark
16	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	19 see	nsubj
17	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	19 see	aux
18	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	19 see	advmod
19	see	see	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 seizes	parataxis
20	clearly	clearly	ADV	_	19 see	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	seize	present	He	the Wolf	the dark		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wolf=Theme
2	mistake	gerund	He not said here	him = he		for a sheep	tree rules
3	not see	could	sheep			clearly property	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

He lets the Wolf escape and then accidentally catches a sheep in the dark near the fold

The tree, 17 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 lets	nsubj
2	lets	let	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 escape	det
4	Wolf	Wolf	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 escape	compound
5	escape	escape	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 lets	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 catches	cc
7	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	9 catches	advmod
8	accidentally	accidentally	ADV	_	9 catches	advmod
9	catches	catch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 lets	conj
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 sheep	det
11	sheep	sheep	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 catches	obj
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 dark	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 dark	det
14	dark	dark	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 catches	obl
15	near	near	ADP	_	17 fold	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 fold	det
17	fold	fold	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 catches	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	let	present	He	the Wolf escape					vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent escape=Theme
2	catch	present	He not said here	a sheep		the dark	then	near the fold; accidentally property	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sheep=Theme

Option 3

He grabs the fox instead of the lamb

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 grabs	nsubj
2	grabs	grab	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 fox	det
4	fox	fox	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 grabs	obj
5	instead	instead	ADV	ExtPos=ADP	8 lamb	case
6	of	of	ADP	_	5 instead	fixed
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 lamb	det
8	lamb	lamb	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 grabs	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	grab	present	He	the fox				instead the lamb	vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fox=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He seizes the Wolf instead of a sheep

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 seizes	nsubj
2	seizes	seize	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Wolf	det
4	Wolf	Wolf	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 seizes	obj
5	instead	instead	ADV	ExtPos=ADP	8 sheep	case
6	of	of	ADP	_	5 instead	fixed
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 sheep	det
8	sheep	sheep	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 seizes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	seize	present	He	the Wolf				instead a sheep	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wolf=Theme

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/386-pg21-part7/e3/