---
title: Articulate the principle conveyed by the closing maxim of the narrat… — Aesop's Fables, The Ass and His Burden… · tree and pragmatics
description: Articulate the principle conveyed by the closing maxim of the narrative. Exam question 4 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 pragmatics of t
---

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# Exam question 4 · Aesop's Fables, The Ass and His Burdens: a clever donkey t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Articulate the principle conveyed by the closing maxim of the narrative.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** articulate, convey, close · **To what, where:** principle

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 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/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:137-pg11339-part7:e4:1
# text = Articulate the principle conveyed by the closing maxim of the narrative.
1	Articulate	articulate	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	principle	principle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	conveyed	convey	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	closing	close	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	amod	_	_
8	maxim	maxim	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	narrative	narrative	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **articulate** *speech: other* | imperative | you *not said here* | the principle |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent principle=Topic |
| 2 | **convey** | participle |  | the principle *not said here* |  |  |  | by the closing maxim of the narrative | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **close** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
Cheating can work once but fails later

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:137-pg11339-part7:e4:o1:1
# text = Cheating can work once but fails later
1	Cheating	cheating	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	3	advmod	_	_
5	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	fails	fail	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
7	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **work** | can | Cheating |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **fail** | present | Cheating *not said here* |  |  |  |  | late *property* | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cheating may succeed once, but a person who keeps cheating will always be caught and punished by others

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:137-pg11339-part7:e4:o2:1
# text = Cheating may succeed once, but a person who keeps cheating will always be caught and punished by others
1	Cheating	cheating	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	succeed	succeed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	cheating	cheat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	xcomp	_	_
12	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
13	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	15	advmod	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	punished	punish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
18	by	by	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **succeed** | may | Cheating |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn succeed-74-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **keep** | present | a person |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **cheat** | gerund | a person *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn cheat-10.6.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **catch** | future · passive |  | a person |  |  |  | always *property* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **punish** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | by others | vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cheating may succeed once, but it is later punished

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:137-pg11339-part7:e4:o3:1
# text = Cheating may succeed once, but it is later punished
1	Cheating	cheating	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	succeed	succeed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
9	later	later	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	punished	punish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **succeed** | may | Cheating |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn succeed-74-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **punish** | present · passive |  | Cheating |  |  |  | later *property* | vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tricks are punished in the end

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:137-pg11339-part7:e4:o4:1
# text = Tricks are punished in the end
1	Tricks	trick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	punished	punish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **punish** | present · passive |  | Tricks |  |  | in the end |  | vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

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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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/137-pg11339-part7/e3/)
- next →: [Aesop's Fables, The Dog and the Cook,…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/138-pg11339-part8/t1/)
- ↑ 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/)