---
title: What comment did the Fox address to the Ass after the bray? — Aesop's Fables, The Ass in the Lion's… · tree and pragmatics
description: What comment did the Fox address to the Ass after the bray? Exam question 2 of lesson 379 «Aesop's Fables, The Ass in the Lion's Skin: a silly bray gives the Ass away» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's cho
---

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# Exam question 2 · Aesop's Fables, The Ass in the Lion's Skin: a silly bray g…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What comment did the Fox address to the Ass after the bray?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** comment · **What happens:** do · **To what, where:** Fox address

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 379 «Aesop's Fables, The Ass in the Lion's Skin: a silly bray gives the Ass away» 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/379-pg19994-part18/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:379-pg19994-part18:e2:1
# text = What comment did the Fox address to the Ass after the bray?
1	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	comment	comment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	Fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	address	address	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Ass	ass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	after	after	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	bray	bray	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | what comment | the Fox address |  |  | after the bray | to the Ass | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent address=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
that he should have kept silent

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:379-pg19994-part18:e2:o1:1
# text = that he should have kept silent
1	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | should · perfect · passive |  | he |  |  |  | silent *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
that he should have kept silent and never brayed at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:379-pg19994-part18:e2:o2:1
# text = that he should have kept silent and never brayed at all
1	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	brayed	bray	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | should · perfect · passive |  | he |  |  |  | silent *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **bray** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | at all | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Agent at all=Stimulus |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
he ought to stay mute

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:379-pg19994-part18:e2:o3:1
# text = he ought to stay mute
1	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	mute	mute	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stay** | ought | he |  |  |  |  | mute *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
he ought to have hushed up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:379-pg19994-part18:e2:o4:1
# text = he ought to have hushed up
1	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	hushed	hush	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hush up** | ought · perfect | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: 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.

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