The Lilac Fairy Book, The Shifty Lad, part 1: a clever boy's mother saves up to send him to school and then to a trade
Tests: 5 of 14 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 8 of 18 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 1276 of the books course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · ★ · wrong ✗
yo bruv, so how many kids did the widow have, innit?
- 1. Seven, counting the baby and the twins who were born in the spring — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Three, all of them boys — no support
- 3. She had three sons, all of them clever and healthy lads, living in the old cottage together — no support
- 4. Just the one, her only son — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★ · right ✓
was the lad proper clever or nah?
- 1. Proper clever, bruv — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Dead lazy, innit mate — no support
- 3. Not really — no support
- 4. Nah, dim — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★ · right ✓
what did the mum save her coins up for, like?
- 1. School, so he could learn proper stuff — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. A ticket to go over the sea and find his dad who went off to war — no support
- 3. A cow and some land for the farm — no support
- 4. A fancy house in the posh bit of town — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★ · right ✓
when's he getting apprenticed, then, fam?
- 1. As soon as he's old enough — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Once the harvest is in — no support
- 3. Only once he has finished all his schooling at the big school in town — no support
- 4. When the king sends for him, after he has grown into a tall strong man — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗
who gets to pick the trade, though?
- 1. The lad himself — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. His mum decides everything in the house, always — no support
- 3. His old mum — no support
- 4. The whole village council votes on what each child will be — ← Mova's choice · score -1
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score -1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 1276, line 13: «Old word: to apprentice someone means to bind a young person to a master who teaches a trade, usually for several years.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗
what's the old name for Ireland in the first line?
- 1. Eire — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Erin — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Alba — no support
- 4. Ire — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗
who's the bloke who wrote the intro, like?
- 1. Mr. Lang — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Andrew Lang — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Mark Twain — no support
- 4. Twain — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★ · right ✓
who did most of the translating, innit?
- 1. Mrs. Lang — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Lang — no support
- 3. Twain — no support
- 4. Mr. Lang — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★ · right ✓
what book did he reckon the kids would dig?
- 1. The Grey True Ghost-Story Book — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. The Grey True Ghost-Story Book and the Blue Fairy Book together — no support
- 3. The Red True Adventure Book — no support
- 4. A long collection of the oldest sea-stories from every corner of the world — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗
what did Homer nick the old stories for?
- 1. The Odyssey — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. The great epic about the Trojan war and Achilles' rage — no support
- 3. A long book of old fables and songs for young readers — ← Mova's choice · score 7
- 4. The Aeneid — no support
Why: It took the question to ask a circumstance (with what, when, how). It chose option 3 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 1272, line 18: «Old word "frolic": it means to play and romp merrily, a word people still use today.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «word» (+5); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same circumstance (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★ · wrong ✗
who's Adam in the garden, according to Mark Twain, like?
- 1. Mark Twain — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Andrew Lang — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Miss Thackeray — no support
- 4. Twain — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 12 · ★ · wrong ✗
why wasn't the editor scared of the dark as a nipper?
- 1. His old nurse had told him that the dark was full of friendly spirits who guarded his bed — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. He had a big lamp by his bed and a dog who always barked at any ghost that came near — no support
- 3. He figured a ghost there couldn't be seen — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. He reckoned the dark was just empty air — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 13 · ★ · wrong ✗
where do the golden fruits grow, the ones from the old myths?
- 1. Olympus — ← Mova's choice · score 6
- 2. The Orchard of Ida's Hills — score 6
- 3. The Isle of Crete — score 6
- 4. The Garden of the Hesperides — ✓ the right answer · score 6
Why: It took the question to ask where. It chose option 1 with score 6, tied with another option at 6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 130, line 1: «The sisters wake up to a tree with silver leaves and golden fruit growing where the goat's insides were buried.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «golden fruit» (+4); the same action «grow» (+2). The right option, 4, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 14 · ★ · wrong ✗
who did the Jogi's tale, innit?
- 1. Major Campbell — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Andrew Lang — ← Mova's choice · score 1
- 3. The Editor, Andrew Lang, who wrote the preface — score -1
- 4. A Pushtoo-speaking Jogi from the hills of northern India — no support
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 1, against -1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 1276, line 18: «The Editor says he "superintends" the work and does not write the stories out of his own head.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗
In which country is the widow's dwelling situated, according to the opening passage?
- 1. Erin, the ancient name for Ireland — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Wales, the land of the old kings — no support
- 3. Scotland, the north of the isle — no support
- 4. Ireland, though the old texts call it Erin and also Hibernia, a Roman name — ← Mova's choice · score 4
Why: It took the question to ask where. It chose option 4 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 425, line 13: «Who: The three widows are called "Chudo-Yudo wives," and each one plans a trap for Ivan.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «call» (+2); the same thing acted on «three widows» (+2). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
What was the principal reason the widow saved her money?
- 1. To buy a new cow for the farm — no support
- 2. To send her clever son to a fine school far away across the sea — ← Mova's choice · score 5
- 3. To send her clever son to school — ✓ the right answer · score 3
- 4. To buy a grand house in the city so that her son could become a rich lawyer one day — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 1276, line 9: «What she does: she "saved up enough money to send him to school".», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+3); the same action «send» (+2). The right option, 3, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓
What did the Editor state regarding the authorship of most of the tales?
- 1. Nobody really wrote most of the stories — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score -1
- 2. Most were written by Homer alone — score -1
- 3. Most were from the Brothers Grimm — no support
- 4. Most of the stories were first written down by monks and scholars in the old monasteries of Europe and Asia — score -1
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score -1, tied with another option at -1 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 1276, line 17: «Andrew Lang, the Editor, says that Mrs. Lang translated and adapted most of the stories.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: a different action (counts against) (+1). Against it: the same thing acted on «most» (-1); a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
Under what circumstances was the son to be apprenticed to a trade?
- 1. As soon as he was old enough, in a trade of his own choosing — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. After school, in a trade his mother chose — ← Mova's choice · score 4
- 3. Never, he stayed home — no support
- 4. At age ten, as a smith — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 1276, line 4: «When he is old enough, she plans to apprentice him to a trade.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4); the same doer «mother» (+3). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-3). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/1276-pg3454-part1/