---
title: Specify the number of occasions upon which the Ass deliberately lay… — Aesop's Fables, The Ass and His Burden… · tree and pragmatics
description: Specify the number of occasions upon which the Ass deliberately lay down in the stream. Exam question 3 of lesson 137 «Aesop's Fables, The Ass and His Burdens: a clever donkey tries to cheat his master with salt and sponges» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and 
---

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# Exam question 3 · Aesop's Fables, The Ass and His Burdens: a clever donkey t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Specify the number of occasions upon which the Ass deliberately lay down in the stream.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, Ass · **What happens:** specify, lie down · **To what, where:** number, stream

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 137 «Aesop's Fables, The Ass and His Burdens: a clever donkey tries to cheat his master with salt and sponges» 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/137-pg11339-part7/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:137-pg11339-part7:e3:1
# text = Specify the number of occasions upon which the Ass deliberately lay down in the stream.
1	Specify	specify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	occasions	occasion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
6	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Ass	ass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	deliberately	deliberately	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
12	down	down	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **specify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the number of occasions |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent number=Theme |
| 2 | **lie down** | past | the Ass |  |  | the stream |  | upon occasions; deliberately, down *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon which=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
Two, on the second and third trips

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:137-pg11339-part7:e3:o1:1
# text = Two, on the second and third trips
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
5	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	amod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	5	conj	_	_
8	trips	trip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two occasions, on the second and third journeys

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:137-pg11339-part7:e3:o2:1
# text = Two occasions, on the second and third journeys
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	occasions	occasion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
6	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	9	amod	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	6	conj	_	_
9	journeys	journey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Three occasions, once on each of the three journeys to market and back again

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:137-pg11339-part7:e3:o3:1
# text = Three occasions, once on each of the three journeys to market and back again
1	Three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	occasions	occasion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	advmod	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	appos	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	journeys	journey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	market	market	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	acl	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	back	back	ADV	RB	_	10	conj	_	_
15	again	again	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two occasions, on the second and third journeys, when the donkey was tired

<!-- fold The tree, 13 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:137-pg11339-part7:e3:o4:1
# text = Two occasions, on the second and third journeys, when the donkey was tired
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	occasions	occasion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
6	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	9	amod	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	6	conj	_	_
9	journeys	journey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	15	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	donkey	donkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the donkey |  |  |  |  | tired *property* | tree rules |

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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: [Aesop's Fables, The Ass and His Burden…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/137-pg11339-part7/e2/)
- next →: [Aesop's Fables, The Ass and His Burden…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/137-pg11339-part7/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Aesop's Fables, The Ass and His Burdens: a clever donkey tries to cheat his master with salt and sponges](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/137-pg11339-part7/)