---
title: Which proverb is the moral of this fable? — Aesop's Fables, The Farmer and the Sto… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which proverb is the moral of this fable? Exam question 4 of lesson 385 «Aesop's Fables, The Farmer and the Stork: a Farmer's nets catch a Stork among Cranes, and his pleas fail.» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option
---

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# Exam question 4 · Aesop's Fables, The Farmer and the Stork: a Farmer's nets…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which proverb is the moral of this fable?

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

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 385 «Aesop's Fables, The Farmer and the Stork: a Farmer's nets catch a Stork among Cranes, and his pleas fail.» 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/385-pg21-part6/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:385-pg21-part6:e4:1
# text = Which proverb is the moral of this fable?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	proverb	proverb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	moral	moral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	fable	fable	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | which proverb | the moral |  |  |  | of this fable | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
Honesty is the best policy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:385-pg21-part6:e4:o1:1
# text = Honesty is the best policy
1	Honesty	honesty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	policy	policy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Honesty | the best policy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Birds of a feather flock together

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:385-pg21-part6:e4:o2:1
# text = Birds of a feather flock together
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	feather	feather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	flock	flock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
6	together	together	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Make hay while the sun shines

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:385-pg21-part6:e4:o3:1
# text = Make hay while the sun shines
1	Make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	hay	hay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
3	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	shines	shine	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | imperative | you *not said here* | hay |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset hay=Product |
| 2 | **shine** | present | the sun |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Like birds of a feather should always flock together in a big group

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:385-pg21-part6:e4:o4:1
# text = Like birds of a feather should always flock together in a big group
1	Like	like	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	feather	feather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	8	advmod	_	_
8	flock	flock	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	together	together	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	group	group	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flock together** | should |  |  |  | a big group |  | like birds of a feather; always, together *property* | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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 Farmer and the Sto…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/385-pg21-part6/e3/)
- next →: [Aesop's Fables, The Cat and the Cock:…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/386-pg21-part7/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Aesop's Fables, The Farmer and the Stork: a Farmer's nets catch a Stork among Cranes, and his pleas fail.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/385-pg21-part6/)