Exam question 4 · Aesop's Fables, The Ass and His Driver: a bolting ass is h…

In the fable of the Man and the Flea, what did the Man resolve to do with the insect?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Man · What happens: resolve, do · To what, where: fable

This is exam question 4 of lesson 404 «Aesop's Fables, The Ass and His Driver: a bolting ass is hauled back by the tail, and the fables that follow each end with a small 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 resolve	obl
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 Man	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Man	det
6	Man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 fable	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 Flea	cc
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Flea	det
9	Flea	Flea	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Man	conj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 resolve	punct
11	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	15 resolve	obj
12	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 resolve	aux
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 Man	det
14	Man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 resolve	nsubj
15	resolve	resolve	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
16	to	to	PART	_	17 do	mark
17	do	do	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	15 resolve	xcomp
18	with	with	ADP	_	20 insect	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 insect	det
20	insect	insect	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 do	obl
21	?	?	PUNCT	_	15 resolve	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	resolve	past · do-support	the Man			the fable of the Man and the Flea			tree rules
2	do	to-infinitive	the Man not said here					with the insect	vn act-114-1 «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 · ← Mova's choice

To crush it between two heavy stones in the courtyard and bury the remains under the wall.

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 crush	mark
2	crush	crush	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 crush	obj
4	between	between	ADP	_	7 stones	case
5	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	7 stones	nummod
6	heavy	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 stones	amod
7	stones	stone	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 crush	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 courtyard	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 courtyard	det
10	courtyard	courtyard	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 crush	obl
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 bury	cc
12	bury	bury	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	2 crush	conj
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 remains	det
14	remains	remains	NOUN	Number=Ptan	12 bury	obj
15	under	under	ADP	_	17 wall	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 wall	det
17	wall	wall	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 bury	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 crush	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	crush	to-infinitive		it		the courtyard		between two heavy stones	vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient
2	bury	infinitive		the remains		the wall			vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent remains=Theme under wall=Destination

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

To destroy it with his own hands.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 destroy	mark
2	destroy	destroy	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 destroy	obj
4	with	with	ADP	_	7 hands	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 hands	nmod:poss
6	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 hands	amod
7	hands	hand	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 destroy	obl
8	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 destroy	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	destroy	to-infinitive		it				with his own hands	vn destroy-44 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient with hand=Instrument

Option 3

To release it outside the house.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 release	mark
2	release	release	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 release	obj
4	outside	outside	ADP	_	6 house	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 house	det
6	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 release	obl
7	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 release	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	release	to-infinitive		it				outside the house	vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer it=Source

Option 4

To destroy it with his own hands once he had caught it in the bed.

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 destroy	mark
2	destroy	destroy	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 caught	advcl
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 destroy	obj
4	with	with	ADP	_	7 hands	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 hands	nmod:poss
6	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 hands	amod
7	hands	hand	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 destroy	obl
8	once	once	SCONJ	_	11 caught	mark
9	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 caught	nsubj:pass
10	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 caught	aux
11	caught	catch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
12	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 caught	obj
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 bed	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 bed	det
15	bed	bed	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 caught	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	11 caught	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	destroy	to-infinitive		it				with his own hands	vn destroy-44 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient with hand=Instrument
2	catch	past · perfect · passive		he		the bed			vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary it=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/404-pg21-part25/e4/