---
title: What principle is illustrated by the Country Mouse's final decision? — Aesop's Fables, The Town Mouse and the… · tree and pragmatics
description: What principle is illustrated by the Country Mouse's final decision? Exam question 4 of lesson 400 «Aesop's Fables, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse: a country mouse visits his grand city friend, gets a scare, and goes home» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree 
---

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# Exam question 4 · Aesop's Fables, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse: a co…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What principle is illustrated by the Country Mouse's final decision?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** final decision, Country Mouse · **What happens:** illustrate, decide · **To what, where:** principle

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 400 «Aesop's Fables, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse: a country mouse visits his grand city friend, gets a scare, and goes home» 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/400-pg21-part21/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:400-pg21-part21:e4:1
# text = What principle is illustrated by the Country Mouse's final decision?
1	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	principle	principle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	illustrated	illustrate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	Country	Country	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	Mouse	Mouse	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	final	final	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	decision	decision	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **illustrate** | present · passive | the Country Mouse's final decision | what principle |  |  |  |  | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Destination |
| 2 | **decide** |  | the Country Mouse |  |  |  |  |  | nom decision «act transitive»: poss=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 -->
That safety is preferable to luxury amid constant danger, so a mouse should stay home in the fields

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:400-pg21-part21:e4:o1:1
# text = That safety is preferable to luxury amid constant danger, so a mouse should stay home in the fields
1	That	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	safety	safety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	preferable	preferable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	luxury	luxury	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
7	amid	amid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
8	constant	constant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
16	home	home	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	fields	field	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | that safety |  |  |  |  | to luxury amid constant danger; preferable *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **stay** | should | a mouse |  |  | the fields |  | home *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in field=Location |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That safety is preferable to luxury amid constant danger

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:400-pg21-part21:e4:o2:1
# text = That safety is preferable to luxury amid constant danger
1	That	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	safety	safety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	preferable	preferable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	luxury	luxury	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
7	amid	amid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
8	constant	constant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | that safety |  |  |  |  | to luxury amid constant danger; preferable *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That wealth brings happiness to every mouse in town

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:400-pg21-part21:e4:o3:1
# text = That wealth brings happiness to every mouse in town
1	That	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	wealth	wealth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	brings	bring	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	happiness	happiness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bring** | present | that wealth | happiness | every mouse | town |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent happiness=Theme to mouse=Destination |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That luxury is preferable to safety at home always

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:400-pg21-part21:e4:o4:1
# text = That luxury is preferable to safety at home always
1	That	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	luxury	luxury	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	preferable	preferable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	safety	safety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | that luxury |  |  |  |  | to safety at home; preferable *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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 Town Mouse and the…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/400-pg21-part21/e3/)
- next →: [Aesop's Fables, The Gamecocks and the…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/401-pg21-part22/t1/)
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