Exam question 3 · Reading a story: characters, plot and setting

Ascertain the moral conveyed by the fable in which a fox, unable to reach certain grapes, declares them to be sour.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, convey, reach, declare, be · To what, where: moral, certain grapes, grapes

This is exam question 3 of lesson 22 «Reading a story: characters, plot and setting» of the English 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 moral	det
3	moral	moral	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 moral	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 fable	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 fable	det
7	fable	fable	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 conveyed	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 which	case
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 fox	obl
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 fox	det
11	fox	fox	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 fable	conj
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 unable	punct
13	unable	unable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 fox	amod
14	to	to	PART	_	15 reach	mark
15	reach	reach	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 unable	xcomp
16	certain	certain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 grapes	amod
17	grapes	grape	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 reach	obj
18	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 declares	punct
19	declares	declare	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	parataxis
20	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	19 declares	obj
21	to	to	PART	_	23 sour	mark
22	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	23 sour	cop
23	sour	sour	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 declares	advcl
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the moral		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent moral=Topic
2	convey	participle		the moral not said here	by the fable and a fox	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	reach	to-infinitive		certain grapes		vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent grape=Theme
4	declare speech: other	present		grapes = grape		vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Attribute
5	is	to-infinitive			sour property	tree rules

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 · ✓ the right answer

That persons may disparage what they are unable to obtain

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 persons	det
2	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 disparage	nsubj
3	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 disparage	aux
4	disparage	disparage	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	8 unable	nsubj
6	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 unable	nsubj
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 unable	cop
8	unable	unable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 disparage	ccomp
9	to	to	PART	_	10 obtain	mark
10	obtain	obtain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 unable	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	disparage	may	that persons		vn reject-77.2-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	is	present		unable property	tree rules
3	obtain	to-infinitive			vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset

Option 2

That foxes are unable to climb

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 foxes	det
2	foxes	fox	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 unable	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 unable	cop
4	unable	unable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 climb	mark
6	climb	climb	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 unable	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	that foxes					unable property	tree rules
2	climb	to-infinitive	that foxes not said here						vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

That grapes are injurious to foxes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 grapes	det
2	grapes	grape	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 injurious	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 injurious	cop
4	injurious	injurious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	6 foxes	case
6	foxes	fox	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 injurious	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	that grapes					to foxes; injurious property	tree rules

Option 4

That one ought always to consume fruit at every available opportunity

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 one	det
2	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 consume	nsubj
3	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 consume	aux
4	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	6 consume	advmod
5	to	to	PART	_	6 consume	mark
6	consume	consume	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	fruit	fruit	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 consume	obj
8	at	at	ADP	_	11 opportunity	case
9	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	11 opportunity	det
10	available	available	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 opportunity	amod
11	opportunity	opportunity	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 consume	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume	ought	that one	fruit		every available opportunity		always property	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fruit=Asset

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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