---
title: What is the principal moral conveyed by the fable of the North Wind… — Aesop's Fables, The Cat and the Birds:… · tree and pragmatics
description: What is the principal moral conveyed by the fable of the North Wind and the Sun? Exam question 4 of lesson 134 «Aesop's Fables, The Cat and the Birds: a cat disguised as a doctor is turned away, and eight more short fables follow» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tre
---

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# Exam question 4 · Aesop's Fables, The Cat and the Birds: a cat disguised as…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What is the principal moral conveyed by the fable of the North Wind and the Sun?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** principal moral · **What happens:** be, convey · **To what, where:** principal moral

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 134 «Aesop's Fables, The Cat and the Birds: a cat disguised as a doctor is turned away, and eight more short fables follow» 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/134-pg11339-part4/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:134-pg11339-part4:e4:1
# text = What is the principal moral conveyed by the fable of the North Wind and the Sun?
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	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	fable	fable	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	North	North	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	Wind	Wind	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	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 fable of the North Wind and the Sun | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Strength is greater than kindness

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:134-pg11339-part4:e4:o1:1
# text = Strength is greater than kindness
1	Strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	greater	great	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	kindness	kindness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Strength |  |  |  |  | than kindness; great *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Persuasion is more effective than force

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:134-pg11339-part4:e4:o2:1
# text = Persuasion is more effective than force
1	Persuasion	persuasion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
4	effective	effective	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Persuasion |  |  |  |  | than force; effective *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Patience always wins over hasty anger

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:134-pg11339-part4:e4:o3:1
# text = Patience always wins over hasty anger
1	Patience	patience	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	3	advmod	_	_
3	wins	win	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	over	over	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	hasty	hasty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	anger	anger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **win over** | present | Patience | hasty anger |  |  |  | always, over *property* | vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anger=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Persuasion is more effective than force, as the traveller's own choice to remove his cloak shows clearly

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:134-pg11339-part4:e4:o4:1
# text = Persuasion is more effective than force, as the traveller's own choice to remove his cloak shows clearly
1	Persuasion	persuasion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
4	effective	effective	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	traveller	traveller	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	choice	choice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	remove	remove	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	acl	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	cloak	cloak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
19	clearly	clearly	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Persuasion |  |  |  |  | than force; effective *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **remove** | to-infinitive | the traveller's own choice *not said here* | choice's cloak |  |  |  |  | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cloak=Theme |
| 3 | **show** | present | the traveller's own choice |  |  |  |  | clearly *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Aesop's Fables, The Cat and the Birds:…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/134-pg11339-part4/e3/)
- next →: [Aesop, The Mistress and Her Servants:…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/135-pg11339-part5/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Aesop's Fables, The Cat and the Birds: a cat disguised as a doctor is turned away, and eight more short fables follow](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/134-pg11339-part4/)