---
title: Which of the following best describes the mechanism by which the chi… — Perrault's Tales, Little Thumb, part 1… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following best describes the mechanism by which the children's trail of bread was rendered useless? Exam question 1 of lesson 1088 «Perrault's Tales, Little Thumb, part 13: lost again, birds eat the bread, a storm in the night» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the depe
---

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# Exam question 1 · Perrault's Tales, Little Thumb, part 13: lost again, birds…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following best describes the mechanism by which the children's trail of bread was rendered useless?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** mechanism · **What happens:** follow, describe, render · **To what, where:** mechanism, trail

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 1088 «Perrault's Tales, Little Thumb, part 13: lost again, birds eat the bread, a storm in the night» 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/1088-pg29021-part13/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1088-pg29021-part13:e1:1
# text = Which of the following best describes the mechanism by which the children's trail of bread was rendered useless?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	obj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	case	_	_
5	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	nmod	_	_
6	describes	describe	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	mechanism	mechanism	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	obl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	's	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	trail	trail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	rendered	render	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl:relcl	_	_
19	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **describe** | present |  | the mechanism |  |  |  | of the best | tree rules |
| 3 | **render** | past · passive | the mechanism | the children's trail of bread |  |  |  | useless *property* | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
Wind blew the crumbs away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1088-pg29021-part13:e1:o1:1
# text = Wind blew the crumbs away
1	Wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	blew	blow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	crumbs	crumb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blow away** | past | Wind | the crumbs |  |  |  | away *property* | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent crumb=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rain washed it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1088-pg29021-part13:e1:o2:1
# text = Rain washed it
1	Rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	washed	wash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wash** | past | Rain | it |  |  |  |  | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Birds ate it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1088-pg29021-part13:e1:o3:1
# text = Birds ate it
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | past | Birds | it |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Birds consumed the bread entirely

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1088-pg29021-part13:e1:o4:1
# text = Birds consumed the bread entirely
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	consumed	consume	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	entirely	entirely	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **consume** | past | Birds | the bread |  |  |  | entirely *property* | vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bread=Asset |

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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: [Perrault's Tales, Little Thumb, part 1…, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1088-pg29021-part13/t13/)
- next →: [Perrault's Tales, Little Thumb, part 1…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1088-pg29021-part13/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Perrault's Tales, Little Thumb, part 13: lost again, birds eat the bread, a storm in the night](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1088-pg29021-part13/)