---
title: Mate, what did the Lioness mean by her one cub? — Aesop's Fables, The Lion, the Bear, an… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mate, what did the Lioness mean by her one cub? Test 14 · ★ of lesson 142 «Aesop's Fables, The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox: a sly Fox steals a kid while two beasts lie wounded» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; M
---

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# Test 14 · ★ · Aesop's Fables, The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox: a sly Fox…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mate, what did the Lioness mean by her one cub?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Mate · **What happens:** do, mean · **To what, where:** Lioness

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 14 · ★ of lesson 142 «Aesop's Fables, The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox: a sly Fox steals a kid while two beasts lie wounded» of the books course of Mova's primary school. 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/142-pg11339-part12/#t14).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:142-pg11339-part12:t14:1
# text = Mate, what did the Lioness mean by her one cub?
1	Mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Lioness	lioness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
11	cub	cub	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | Mate | the Lioness |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lioness=Eventuality |
| 2 | **mean** | present | Mate |  |  |  |  | by Mate's one cub | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V 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 -->
Quality beats quantity, cos this one cub is a proper lion, innit

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:142-pg11339-part12:t14:o1:1
# text = Quality beats quantity, cos this one cub is a proper lion, innit
1	Quality	quality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	beats	beat	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	quantity	quantity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
5	cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
7	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	cub	cub	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	proper	proper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	innit	innit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **beat** | present | Quality | quantity |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location quantity=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | present |  | a proper lion and innit |  |  |  | cos this one cub | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It means quality beats quantity, and this single cub is a real lion too

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:142-pg11339-part12:t14:o2:1
# text = It means quality beats quantity, and this single cub is a real lion too
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	quality	quality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	beats	beat	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
5	quantity	quantity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
8	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
9	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	cub	cub	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
15	too	too	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **beat** | present | quality | quantity |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location quantity=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | present | this single cub | a real lion |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Quality beats quantity, it's a lion

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:142-pg11339-part12:t14:o3:1
# text = Quality beats quantity, it's a lion
1	Quality	quality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	beats	beat	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	quantity	quantity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **beat** | present | Quality | quantity |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location quantity=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | present | Quality | a lion |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lions are better than many cubs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:142-pg11339-part12:t14:o4:1
# text = Lions are better than many cubs
1	Lions	lion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	cubs	cub	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Lions |  |  |  |  | than many cubs; good *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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Aesop's Fables, The Lion, the Bear, an…, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/142-pg11339-part12/t13/)
- next →: [Aesop's Fables, The Lion, the Bear, an…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/142-pg11339-part12/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Aesop's Fables, The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox: a sly Fox steals a kid while two beasts lie wounded](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/142-pg11339-part12/)