---
title: By what means was the labourer's wife brought into being? — Russian Folk-Tales, The Serpent's Wife… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means was the labourer's wife brought into being? Exam question 3 of lesson 1110 «Russian Folk-Tales, The Serpent's Wife, part 16: Tremsin wins the herd and the Nastasia's riddle, then a labourer's wife turns out to be a serpent» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the depende
---

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# Exam question 3 · Russian Folk-Tales, The Serpent's Wife, part 16: Tremsin w…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means was the labourer's wife brought into being?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** wife · **What happens:** mean, be, bring · **To what, where:** wife

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 1110 «Russian Folk-Tales, The Serpent's Wife, part 16: Tremsin wins the herd and the Nastasia's riddle, then a labourer's wife turns out to be a serpent» 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/1110-pg29672-part16/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1110-pg29672-part16:e3:1
# text = By what means was the labourer's wife brought into being?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	obl	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	labourer	labourer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	brought	bring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	into	into	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	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 |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | the labourer's wife |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **bring** | past | the labourer's wife |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Being carried out of a burning sheaf by a gust of wind

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1110-pg29672-part16:e3:o1:1
# text = Being carried out of a burning sheaf by a gust of wind
1	Being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	aux:pass	_	_
2	carried	carry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
3	out	out	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	amod	_	_
7	sheaf	sheaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	gust	gust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry out** | gerund · passive | a gust of wind | a burning sheaf |  |  |  |  | vn act-114 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sheaf=Eventuality |
| 2 | **burn** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Heating of a bowl

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1110-pg29672-part16:e3:o2:1
# text = Heating of a bowl
1	Heating	heating	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	bowl	bowl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **heat** |  | a bowl |  |  |  |  |  | nom heating «process intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Burning of a field

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1110-pg29672-part16:e3:o3:1
# text = Burning of a field
1	Burning	burn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Combustion of a sheaf

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1110-pg29672-part16:e3:o4:1
# text = Combustion of a sheaf
1	Combustion	combustion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	sheaf	sheaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **combust** |  | a sheaf |  |  |  |  |  | nom combustion «process intransitive»: of=agent |

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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: [Russian Folk-Tales, The Serpent's Wife…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1110-pg29672-part16/e2/)
- next →: [Russian Folk-Tales, The Serpent's Wife…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1110-pg29672-part16/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Russian Folk-Tales, The Serpent's Wife, part 16: Tremsin wins the herd and the Nastasia's riddle, then a labourer's wife turns out to be a serpent](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1110-pg29672-part16/)