---
title: By what means did Fionn customarily discover what was hidden? — Fionn Tales, Fionn at Tara, part 11: F… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did Fionn customarily discover what was hidden? Exam question 3 of lesson 1043 «Fionn Tales, Fionn at Tara, part 11: Fionn offers to defend Tara against Aillen» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mov
---

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# Exam question 3 · Fionn Tales, Fionn at Tara, part 11: Fionn offers to defen…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did Fionn customarily discover what was hidden?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** mean, do, discover, hide · **To what, where:** Fionn · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1043 «Fionn Tales, Fionn at Tara, part 11: Fionn offers to defend Tara against Aillen» 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/1043-pg2892-part11/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1043-pg2892-part11:e3:1
# text = By what means did Fionn customarily discover what was hidden?
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
5	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	customarily	customarily	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	discover	discover	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
8	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** | past |  | Fionn |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fionn=Eventuality |
| 3 | **discover** | present |  |  |  |  |  | customarily *property* | vn discover-84-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **hide** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
By burning the sacred oak wood

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1043-pg2892-part11:e3:o1:1
# text = By burning the sacred oak wood
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	sacred	sacred	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	oak	oak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burn** | gerund |  | the sacred oak wood |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent wood=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By gazing into a dish of water and waiting for the vision to appear

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1043-pg2892-part11:e3:o2:1
# text = By gazing into a dish of water and waiting for the vision to appear
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	gazing	gaze	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	into	into	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	dish	dish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	vision	vision	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	appear	appear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **gaze** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | into a dish of water | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent into dish=Theme |
| 2 | **wait** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | for the vision | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **appear** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By gazing into a dish of water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1043-pg2892-part11:e3:o3:1
# text = By gazing into a dish of water
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	gazing	gaze	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	into	into	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	dish	dish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **gaze** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | into a dish of water | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent into dish=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By placing his thumb on his wisdom tooth and gazing at the old salmon

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1043-pg2892-part11:e3:o4:1
# text = By placing his thumb on his wisdom tooth and gazing at the old salmon
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	placing	place	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	thumb	thumb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	tooth	tooth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	gazing	gaze	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	salmon	salmon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **place** | gerund |  | his thumb |  | his wisdom tooth |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent thumb=Theme on tooth=Destination |
| 2 | **gaze** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | at the old salmon | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at salmon=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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Fionn Tales, Fionn at Tara, part 11: F…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1043-pg2892-part11/e2/)
- next →: [Fionn Tales, Fionn at Tara, part 11: F…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1043-pg2892-part11/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Fionn Tales, Fionn at Tara, part 11: Fionn offers to defend Tara against Aillen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1043-pg2892-part11/)