Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Old House, part 25: a lonely old man and a gift

Tests: 1 of 13 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 9 of 17 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 298 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 did the prince actually climb that rock or nah?

1. Nah, he gave up at the bottom and went home to the apes and their trees — no support
2. Yeah, he climbed the rock all alone, slipping near the top but finishing before dusk — ← Mova's choice · score 5
3. Yeah, he climbed it before the sun went down — ✓ the right answer · score 5
4. Nah, he slipped and fell in the lake — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 298, line 1: «The King's Son keeps walking through the wood, ignoring the mocking apes, and climbs a rock as the sun goes down.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «climb» (+4); the same thing acted on «rock» (+1). The right option, 3, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★ · wrong ✗

bruv what did the apes say when he walked past?

1. They said shall we thrash him and throw his golden crown into the lake — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. They said we should thrash him, then bring him to the king with a song — no support
3. They said shall we follow him — no support
4. They said shall we thrash him — ✓ the right answer · 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 · ★ · wrong ✗

ngl why was the old man in the plush breeches so lonely?

1. Nobody ever came over to see him — ✓ the right answer · score 2
2. His garden had died in the frost — no support
3. Nobody ever came over to see him, and his breeches were too old to wear — score 2
4. He had lost his only friend, the errand man, to the sea last winter — ← Mova's choice · score 7

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 7, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 188, line 7: «Who: the "hateful old man" is the Old Man of the Sea, who "strangle[s]" everyone whose shoulders he perches on.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same circumstance (+4); the same thing acted on «old man» (+2); the same doer «hateful old man» (+1). The right option, 1, scored 2. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗

was the poor boy proper dressed for meeting a king's son?

1. Nah, he had wooden shoes and a jacket — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Nah, he had wooden shoes and a jacket, and nothing grand at all for the king's son — no support
3. Yeah, he wore a fine silk coat — no support
4. Yeah, he had a silver cap, velvet breeches and shiny gloves for the meeting — ← Mova's choice · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 282, line 4: «He flies into the grass, but a sailor-boy throws a cap over him and grabs him.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «sailor boy» (+2); the same thing acted on «cap» (+1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗

so the old house was like three hundred years old innit?

1. Nah, ten years — no support
2. Nah, maybe a hundred years old — ← Mova's choice · score 3
3. Yeah, about two hundred years — no support
4. Yeah, almost three hundred years old — ✓ the right answer · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 3, tied with another option at 3 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 219, line 20: «Old word: a "tenant" pays rent to live in a house owned by someone else; the word is still used today.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «old word» (+2); the same property (+1). The right option, 4, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗

what was that bit on the walls that said the gilding decays?

1. A message from the old king — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. A rhyme the walls sang out — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. A poem carved on the beam — no support
4. A song — 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 ✗

was the dragon spout broke or sus or what?

1. Nah, it just dripped on the lilies — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Yeah it's broke, the dragon's head fell off into the lake and the apes laughed — no support
3. It leaked from its belly, cos of a hole — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Yeah, it squirted out the mouth — 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 · ★ · wrong ✗

did the little boy send the old man something or nah?

1. Yeah, one of his pewter soldiers, carried across the street by the errand man — ← Mova's choice · score 5
2. Nah, he kept everything, but sent a pink flower over with a rhyme on it — score 4
3. Yeah, one of his pewter soldiers — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Yeah, one of his painted drums — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 102, line 5: «The father sends him to the sexton, who takes him to the belfry at midnight, where the boy throws a silent white figure down ten steps.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «take» (+5); the same thing acted on «tale» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗

did the carved trumpeters on the door actually blow?

1. Yeah, they blew a loud note every morning — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Yeah, they blew every morning, all the way to the sea — no support
3. Nah, they were carved, but it looked like they blew — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Nah, they were carved and never blew, but it looked as if they blew a loud Trateratra for the sun — 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 · ★ · right ✓

bare pretty sunset tho, what did he see?

1. The sun like a shining altar over the sea — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. The sun like a shining altar over the sea, with the apes singing below — no support
3. A giant lamp hanging over the lake and the church tower and the apple trees — no support
4. The sun sinking into the wood — 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 11 · ★ · wrong ✗

was the wood all gloomy and dead or what?

1. Nah, it had lilies, tulips and apple trees, and the apes were singing in the sun — score 3
2. Nah, it had lilies, tulips and apple trees — ✓ the right answer · score 3
3. Yeah, it was gloomy, with dead lilies and grey tulips under apple trees by the sea — ← Mova's choice · score 4
4. Nah, it had oaks and pine trees — score 3

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 59, line 3: «At Alassio he watched wine-casks tied in a long line pulled ashore «like a mile of porpoises»; he rested in the olive-woods above the blue sea, and at Marseill…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «rat» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). The right option, 2, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 12 · ★ · wrong ✗

does the old house have, like, a proper garden?

1. Nah, no garden — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Yeah, a balcony covered in green stuff — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Yeah, a wooden fence around some grey soil — no support
4. Yeah, a pond — 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 ✗

what's that pink flower pot on about?

1. It says a king's son will visit — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It says hello — no support
3. It says the apes are coming soon — no support
4. It says a little flower comes on Sunday — ✓ the right answer · 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

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which phrase describes the setting sun as the King's Son sees it?

1. A huge golden disc, sinking slowly behind the dark blue hills — ← Mova's choice · score 6
2. A golden altar, glowing in the sea — no support
3. A shining altar — no support
4. A large shining altar, melted together in glowing colours — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 244, line 17: «Old word: "Seer" meant a wise man who could see what others could not; today we say a fortune-teller.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «old word» (+2); a different action (counts against) (+1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓

What is the function of the leaden spout with a dragon's head on the old house?

1. It carries rain-water, though it leaks from its belly — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. It carries rain — no support
3. It catches snow for the old man, leaking through its tail — no support
4. It holds the wall — 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

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which object does the boy send to the old man, and by what means?

1. A pewter soldier, conveyed by the errand man — ✓ the right answer · score 5
2. A pewter soldier, conveyed across the street by the errand man and his small basket — score 5
3. A pewter soldier, given to the old man by his mother, conveyed by the errand man on Sunday morning — ← Mova's choice · score 8
4. A wooden horse, carried by the apes — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 8, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 128, line 6: «Who: a poor Miller, his beautiful daughter, a greedy King, and a little Man whom the tale calls a Dwarf.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same receiver «little man» (+5); a different thing acted on (counts against) (+3); the same doer «tale» (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 1, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓

What reason does the boy give for sending his gift across the street?

1. He knows the old man is so very lonely — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
2. He thinks the old man wants a new hat — score 6
3. Because the old man has no friends at all — score 5
4. Because the old man is rich and the boy wants to be thanked by the king's son — score 6

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. 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 229, line 2: «He sets off at dawn and gives his sister a knife that will show blood if he dies.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «bahman» (+2); a different action (counts against) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

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