Exam question 2 · Aesop's Fables, The Gnat and the Bull, part 24: a gnat, a…

In the fable of the Truth and the Traveler, what reason does Truth give for dwelling alone in the wilderness?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Truth · What happens: give, dwell · To what, where: fable, wilderness

This is exam question 2 of lesson 403 «Aesop's Fables, The Gnat and the Bull, part 24: a gnat, a camel, dogs, a jackdaw and a workman each get a short lesson» 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	In	in	ADP	_	3 fable	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 fable	det
3	fable	fable	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 give	obl
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 Truth	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Truth	det
6	Truth	Truth	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 fable	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 Traveler	cc
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Traveler	det
9	Traveler	Traveler	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Truth	conj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 does	punct
11	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	13 does	obj
12	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 does	nsubj
13	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 give	aux
14	Truth	Truth	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 give	nsubj
15	give	give	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
16	for	for	SCONJ	_	17 dwelling	mark
17	dwelling	dwell	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	15 give	advcl
18	alone	alone	ADV	_	17 dwelling	advmod
19	in	in	ADP	_	21 wilderness	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 wilderness	det
21	wilderness	wilderness	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 dwelling	obl
22	?	?	PUNCT	_	15 give	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	present · do-support	Truth			the fable of the Truth and the Traveler			vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	dwell	gerund	Truth not said here			the wilderness		alone property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in wilderness=Location

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

all men have turned to lies

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 men	det
2	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 turned	nsubj
3	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 turned	aux
4	turned	turn	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	6 lies	case
6	lies	lie	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 turned	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	turn	present · perfect	all men			lies			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme to lie=Trajectory

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

falsehood is now with all men, and no one will believe her when she speaks the truth

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 men	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 men	cop
3	now	now	ADV	PronType=Dem	6 men	advmod
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 men	case
5	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	6 men	det
6	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 believe	punct
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 believe	cc
9	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	10 one	det
10	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 believe	nsubj
11	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 believe	aux
12	believe	believe	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 men	acl:relcl
13	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 believe	obj
14	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	16 speaks	advmod
15	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 speaks	nsubj
16	speaks	speak	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 believe	advcl
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 truth	det
18	truth	truth	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 speaks	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	falsehood		now	with all men	tree rules
2	believe	future	no one	her = she			vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus
3	speak speech: other	present	she	the truth			tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

falsehood is now with all men

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 men	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 men	cop
3	now	now	ADV	PronType=Dem	6 men	advmod
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 men	case
5	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	6 men	det
6	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	falsehood				now	with all men	tree rules

Option 4

she was driven from the cities by the lying priests and has no friends left in the world at all

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 driven	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 driven	aux:pass
3	driven	drive	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 cities	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 cities	det
6	cities	city	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 driven	obl
7	by	by	ADP	_	10 priests	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 priests	det
9	lying	lie	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 priests	amod
10	priests	priest	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 driven	obl
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 has	cc
12	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 driven	conj
13	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	14 friends	det
14	friends	friend	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 has	obj
15	left	leave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 friends	acl
16	in	in	ADP	_	18 world	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 world	det
18	world	world	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 left	obl
19	at	at	ADP	_	20 all	case
20	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	15 left	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	drive	past · passive	the lying priests	she	the cities		vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent subject=Theme from city=Trajectory
2	lie	gerund					vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	have	present	the lying priests not said here	no friends			vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friend=Patient
4	leave	participle		no friends not said here		in the world result; at all	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in world=Result

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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