Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Sparrow-Mother: the gilded mother is pecked to death, and her children burn their own nest

Tests: 4 of 14 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 9 of 18 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 910 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 ✗

Bruv, why did the mum sparrow get stuck, innit?

1. Yeah, she got trapped in a snare in the hedge — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. She got caught in a horse-hair net on a tree while looking for food, innit — no support
3. She got caught in a horse-hair net on a tree — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. She got caught in a horse-hair net on a tree near the Hall, proper stuck, innit mate — 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 2 · ★ · wrong ✗

Mate, what did the old soap-man stick on her to make her look fancy?

1. Shiny leaf-gold and a red bit of his jacket, plus a fancy red comb made of cloth — ← Mova's choice · score 5
2. Shiny leaf-gold and a red bit of his jacket — ✓ the right answer · score 4
3. Gold dust and a red bit of his hat, yeah — score 4
4. Shiny leaf-gold all over her back and a big red bit of his jacket on her head, innit — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 910, line 3: «The old soap-man gilds her with gold leaf and sticks a red comb on her head, so the other birds attack her.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «old soap man» (+2); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); a different action (counts against) (+1). The right option, 2, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗

Was the rose-bush, like, totally sick and untouched after the fire?

1. Yeah, it stood there fresh and blooming — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Nah, it got burnt up with the house — ← Mova's choice · score 0
3. Yeah, it stood there fresh and blooming, all the roses still nodding over the ruin, innit — no support
4. Yeah, it stood there fresh and blooming while everything around it was burnt — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 0, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 402, line 15: «Hard word, "underwood": it means low bushes and shrubs growing under big trees; today we call it "undergrowth".», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+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

Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗

Lol, what did the babies yell when they saw her?

1. "Lovely, lovely!" and "Wow!" — ← Mova's choice · score 4
2. "Oh, a bird!" and "Mum's gone pretty!" — no support
3. "Look at her!" and "That's the beautiful!" — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. "Mum!" — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 845, line 4: «The boy cries beside the sandy grave under the rose-tree and asks if his mother was really good for nothing.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «cry» (+2); the same doer «boy» (+2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★ · right ✓

Yo, who was top dog in the nest before the fire?

1. The one who stayed behind in the nest — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 1
2. The bossiest one who puffed up in the nest — score 1
3. The one who flew away first — no support
4. The smallest — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. 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 818, line 9: «Mother Plague once lived in the underground rat's nest, and "she killed people, but never rats".», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «mother» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗

Was the soap-man a proper grump or a merry old geezer?

1. Grumpy, always stuck at home — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Merry, always wandering about — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Merry, always wandering about the garden and singing to the roses all day long — no support
4. A proper grump at first, but merry, always wandering about the fields and lanes — 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 ✗

Did the painter, like, care about the sparrows at all?

1. Yeah, he saved the sparrows from the fire — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Nah, he only wanted the roses in his picture, not the sparrows, the house, or the couple — no support
3. Nah, he only wanted the roses in his picture — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Nah, he only wanted the roses in his picture and ignored the birds in the fire — 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 ✓

Why did the other birds go mental at her?

1. They thought she was a young peacock, glittering in gold, so they plucked her out of envy — score 5
2. They thought she was a young peacock from the Hall, so they tore at her gold and feathers in fury — score 5
3. They thought she was a young crow — score 5
4. They thought she was a young peacock — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 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 665, line 2: «The king is so pleased that he gives the prince his daughter and kingdom.», reached through the cause of the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «king» (+5). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗

Was the mum's last bit, like, proper bleeding out?

1. Yeah, she fell bleeding into the rose-bush, and the roses said nothing at all — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Yeah, she fell bleeding into the rose-bush — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Nah, she flew off into the garden, and the roses said nothing at all — no support
4. Nah, she flew off healthy into the sky — 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 the babies do when mum didn't come back, bruv?

1. They just sat quietly waiting — score -2
2. They fought, then flew off to find food — ← Mova's choice · score 4
3. They went out — score 3
4. They had a proper row over the nest — ✓ the right answer · score -1

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 518, line 2: «On the way he finds a tortoise, makes a lyre from its shell with seven strings, plays it, and then leaves it in his cradle.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «find» (+6); a different thing acted on (counts against) (+1). Against it: it fills the role the question asks for (-1); the same doer «baby» (-2). The right option, 4, scored -1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★ · wrong ✗

Was the sparrow-mother's bit about peacocks "the beautiful", or nah?

1. Nah, she said the nightingale was the beautiful — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Nah, she called the roses beautiful — no support
3. Yeah, she called the peacocks "the beautiful" — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Yeah, she called the peacocks "the beautiful", and then the roses agreed with her, innit — 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 · ★ · right ✓

Did the nightingale sing to the roses, for real?

1. Yeah, about the beautiful living for ever — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Nah, about the sparrows and the nest — no support
3. Yeah, about the beautiful living for ever and the roses' own self, for real, mate — no support
4. Nah, about the sparrow's bleeding wings — 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 ✗

Yo, which house got burnt, the mum's or the couple's?

1. The house where the sparrow-mother was born — ← Mova's choice · score -1
2. The house of the soap-man — no support
3. The couple's — no support
4. The farmhouse where the young couple lived — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score -1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 810, line 4: «Then a new tale begins: a rich merchant's house holds a children's party full of chatter.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. Against it: the same doer «house» (-1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 14 · ★ · right ✓

Bruv, what's left at the end, like?

1. A black ruin and the sparrows gone away for good — no support
2. Thick smoke from the ruins, and the rose-bush untouched — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 2
3. Thick smoke from the ruins, and the rose-bush untouched, blooming in the light of the sun — no support
4. Ash in the garden, and a dead sparrow — score 2

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 2, tied with another option at 2 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 512, line 10: «She haunts "sepulchres" and crossroads, and at the end of every month food was left "wherever two roads met" for her.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «leave» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓

With reference to the passage, what is the principal consequence of the sparrow-mother's gilding?

1. She is attacked and fatally plucked by the birds that once were her kin — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. She is attacked and fatally plucked by the birds that once were her kin, and falls bleeding into the rose-bush at last — no support
3. She is attacked and fatally plucked by the birds that once were her kin, who mistook her for a peacock — no support
4. She is admired by the peacocks and then carried off by the soap-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

Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓

Which of the following accurately describes the conduct of the young sparrows toward their mother?

1. They fail to recognise her and refuse her entry to the nest, though she has come home at last — score -2
2. They notice her gold and invite her to the nest for food — score -2
3. They fail to recognise her and refuse her entry to the nest — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score -2
4. They fail to recognise her and refuse her entry to the nest, instead admiring her gold and praising her as a peacock — score -2

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score -2, tied with another option at -2 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 910, line 9: «Why she is caught: she gets tangled "in a horse-hair net which some boys had attached to a tree".», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: a different action (counts against) (+2). Against it: it fills the role the question asks for (-1); the same doer «hair net» (-3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

According to the narrator, for what purpose was the picture of the smoking house ultimately executed?

1. For money — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. For the house — no support
3. For the sake of the blooming rose-bush alone — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. To show the ruin and the fire — 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 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

What does the closing passage suggest about the roses' attitude toward the misfortunes of their neighbours?

1. They show sympathy and mourn the ruined house with the sparrows — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. They display indifference and show no sympathy for the ruined house, blooming on as if nothing had happened — no support
3. They feel sorry for the sparrows — no support
4. They display indifference and show no sympathy for the ruined house — ✓ 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

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