---
title: What is the principal moral conveyed by the fox's conduct in this pa… — Reynard the Fox, The Wolf and the Fox… · tree and pragmatics
description: What is the principal moral conveyed by the fox's conduct in this passage? Exam question 4 of lesson 1144 «Reynard the Fox, The Wolf and the Fox at the Well, part 10: the hungry wolf and the cunning fox plan a feast of cheese, and the fox tricks the wolf into the bucket» of the books course of Mova'
---

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# Exam question 4 · Reynard the Fox, The Wolf and the Fox at the Well, part 10…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What is the principal moral conveyed by the fox's conduct in this passage?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** principal moral, fox · **What happens:** be, convey, conduct · **To what, where:** principal moral, passage

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 1144 «Reynard the Fox, The Wolf and the Fox at the Well, part 10: the hungry wolf and the cunning fox plan a feast of cheese, and the fox tricks the wolf into the bucket» 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/1144-pg3027-part10/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1144-pg3027-part10:e4:1
# text = What is the principal moral conveyed by the fox's conduct in this passage?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	moral	moral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
6	conveyed	convey	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	conduct	conduct	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	14	det	_	_
14	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the principal moral |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **convey** | participle |  | the principal moral *not said here* |  |  |  | by the fox's conduct in this passage | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **conduct** |  | the fox |  |  | this passage |  |  | nom conduct «act transitive»: poss=agent in=place |

<!-- .note -->
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 {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Kindness to strangers is always repaid in full

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1144-pg3027-part10:e4:o1:1
# text = Kindness to strangers is always repaid in full
1	Kindness	kindness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	strangers	stranger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
5	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	6	advmod	_	_
6	repaid	repay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **repay** | present · passive |  | Kindness to strangers |  | full |  | always *property* | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Those who are hungry should share their food with others, for the wolf who refused to help was punished

<!-- fold The tree, 19 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1144-pg3027-part10:e4:o2:1
# text = Those who are hungry should share their food with others, for the wolf who refused to help was punished
1	Those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
2	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	acl:relcl	_	_
5	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	share	share	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	punished	punish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **share** | should | Those | their food |  |  |  | with others | tree rules |
| 3 | **refuse** | past | the wolf |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **help** | to-infinitive | the wolf *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **punish** | past · passive |  | the wolf |  |  |  |  | vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cunning may overcome brute strength and appetite

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1144-pg3027-part10:e4:o3:1
# text = Cunning may overcome brute strength and appetite
1	Cunning	cunning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	overcome	overcome	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	brute	brute	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	appetite	appetite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **overcome** | may | Cunning | brute strength and appetite |  |  |  |  | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot strength=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Foxes should never trust wolves at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1144-pg3027-part10:e4:o4:1
# text = Foxes should never trust wolves at all
1	Foxes	fox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	trust	trust	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **trust** | should | Foxes | wolves |  | all |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wolf=Theme |

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**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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- ← previous: [Reynard the Fox, The Wolf and the Fox…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1144-pg3027-part10/e3/)
- next →: [Fairy Book, How Ian Direach Got the Bl…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1145-pg3027-part11/t1/)
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