Exam question 2 · Aesop's Fables, The Old Hound: a hound too old to hold a b…

Of what did the Woodcutter fail to take notice, when the huntsman inquired after the Fox?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: huntsman · What happens: do, take, inquire · To what, where: Woodcutter fail, notice

This is exam question 2 of lesson 392 «Aesop's Fables, The Old Hound: a hound too old to hold a boar gets scolded by his master» 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	Of	of	ADP	_	2 what	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	root	root
3	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 fail	det
5	Woodcutter	Woodcutter	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 fail	compound
6	fail	fail	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 did	obj
7	to	to	PART	_	8 take	mark
8	take	take	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 did	advcl
9	notice	notice	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 take	obj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 inquired	punct
11	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	14 inquired	advmod
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 huntsman	det
13	huntsman	huntsman	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 inquired	nsubj
14	inquired	inquire	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 notice	appos
15	after	after	ADP	_	17 Fox	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 Fox	det
17	Fox	fox	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 inquired	obl
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	2 what	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	do	past		the Woodcutter fail		vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fail=Eventuality
2	take	to-infinitive		notice		vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent notice=Theme
3	inquire speech: other	participle	the huntsman		after the Fox	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: 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

the clear signs pointing toward the hut in the valley

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 signs	det
2	clear	clear	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 signs	amod
3	signs	sign	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	pointing	point	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 signs	acl
5	toward	toward	ADP	_	7 hut	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 hut	det
7	hut	hut	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 pointing	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 valley	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 valley	det
10	valley	valley	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 pointing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	point	gerund	the clear signs not said here					toward the hut; in the valley	vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in valley=Theme

Option 2

the footprints in the muddy road

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 footprints	det
2	footprints	footprint	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	6 road	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 road	det
5	muddy	muddy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 road	amod
6	road	road	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 footprints	nmod

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

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

the signs pointing to the hut

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 signs	det
2	signs	sign	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	pointing	point	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 signs	acl
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 hut	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 hut	det
6	hut	hut	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 pointing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	point	gerund	the signs not said here		the hut				vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to hut=Recipient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

the marks of the fox nearby

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 marks	det
2	marks	mark	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 fox	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 fox	det
5	fox	fox	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 marks	nmod
6	nearby	nearby	ADV	_	5 fox	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mark			the fox					nom mark «cognition 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/392-pg21-part13/e2/