Exam question 4 · Aesop's Fables, The Image of Mercury and the Carpenter: a…

What fate befell the Ass after he divided the spoil fairly among the three partners?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: fate · What happens: befall, divide · To what, where: Ass, spoil

This is exam question 4 of lesson 395 «Aesop's Fables, The Image of Mercury and the Carpenter: a poor carpenter smashes his idol and gets gold» 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	What	what	DET	PronType=Int	2 fate	det
2	fate	fate	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 befell	nsubj
3	befell	befall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Ass	det
5	Ass	ass	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 befell	obj
6	after	after	SCONJ	_	8 divided	mark
7	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 divided	nsubj
8	divided	divide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 befell	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 spoil	det
10	spoil	spoil	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 divided	obj
11	fairly	fairly	ADV	_	8 divided	advmod
12	among	among	ADP	_	15 partners	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 partners	det
14	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	15 partners	nummod
15	partners	partner	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 divided	obl
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 befell	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	befall	past	what fate	the Ass					tree rules
2	divide	past	fate	the spoil				among the three partners; fairly property	vn multiply-108-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spoil=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 · ✓ the right answer

he was devoured by the Lion in a rage

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	3 devoured	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 devoured	aux:pass
3	devoured	devour	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 Lion	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Lion	det
6	Lion	Lion	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 devoured	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 rage	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 rage	det
9	rage	rage	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 devoured	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	devour	past · passive	the Lion	he		a rage			vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient

Option 2

he went home with a bag of gold and lived happily for many years on the farm

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 went	nsubj
2	went	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	home	home	ADV	_	2 went	advmod
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 bag	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 bag	det
6	bag	bag	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 went	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 gold	case
8	gold	gold	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 bag	nmod
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 lived	cc
10	lived	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 went	conj
11	happily	happily	ADV	_	10 lived	advmod
12	for	for	ADP	_	14 years	case
13	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 years	amod
14	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 lived	obl
15	on	on	ADP	_	17 farm	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 farm	det
17	farm	farm	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 lived	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	go	past	he					with a bag of gold; home property	vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent with bag=Beneficiary
2	live	past	he not said here			the farm	year	happily property	vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on farm=Location

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

he was eaten by the Lion

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	3 eaten	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 eaten	aux:pass
3	eaten	eat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 Lion	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Lion	det
6	Lion	Lion	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 eaten	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	eat	past · passive	the Lion	he					vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient

Option 4

he was devoured by the Lion in a rage, after the Lion decided the division was unfair

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	3 devoured	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 devoured	aux:pass
3	devoured	devour	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 Lion	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Lion	det
6	Lion	Lion	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 devoured	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 rage	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 rage	det
9	rage	rage	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 devoured	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 decided	punct
11	after	after	SCONJ	_	14 decided	mark
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Lion	det
13	Lion	Lion	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 decided	nsubj
14	decided	decide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 devoured	parataxis
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 division	det
16	division	division	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 unfair	nsubj
17	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	18 unfair	cop
18	unfair	unfair	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 decided	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	devour	past · passive	the Lion	he	a rage		vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient
2	decide	past	the Lion				vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	is	past	the division			unfair property	tree rules

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/395-pg21-part16/e4/