---
title: State the moral conveyed by the fable of the Fighting Cocks and the… — Aesop's Fables, The Cat and the Birds:… · tree and pragmatics
description: State the moral conveyed by the fable of the Fighting Cocks and the Eagle, as expressed in the text. Exam question 3 of lesson 388 «Aesop's Fables, The Cat and the Birds: a cat posing as a doctor is sent packing» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics o
---

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# Exam question 3 · Aesop's Fables, The Cat and the Birds: a cat posing as a d…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
State the moral conveyed by the fable of the Fighting Cocks and the Eagle, as expressed in the text.

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 388 «Aesop's Fables, The Cat and the Birds: a cat posing as a doctor is sent packing» 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/388-pg21-part9/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:388-pg21-part9:e3:1
# text = State the moral conveyed by the fable of the Fighting Cocks and the Eagle, as expressed in the text.
1	State	state	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	moral	moral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	conveyed	convey	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	fable	fable	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	Fighting	fighting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	Cocks	cock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Eagle	Eagle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
17	expressed	express	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	parataxis	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	text	text	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **state** *speech: other* | imperative | you *not said here* | the moral |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent moral=Topic |
| 2 | **convey** | participle |  | the moral *not said here* |  |  |  | by the fable of the Fighting Cocks and the Eagle | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **express** | participle |  |  |  | the text |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: 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 -->
Fight hard

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:388-pg21-part9:e3:o1:1
# text = Fight hard
1	Fight	fight	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	1	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fight** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pride goes before destruction

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:388-pg21-part9:e3:o2:1
# text = Pride goes before destruction
1	Pride	pride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	goes	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	before	before	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	destruction	destruction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | present | Pride |  |  | destruction |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme before destruction=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Always fight to win the battle

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:388-pg21-part9:e3:o3:1
# text = Always fight to win the battle
1	Always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	2	advmod	_	_
2	fight	fight	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	win	win	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fight** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **win** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | the battle |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent battle=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pride is bad

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:388-pg21-part9:e3:o4:1
# text = Pride is bad
1	Pride	pride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Pride |  |  |  |  | bad *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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