---
title: By what means did the falcon ascertain the whereabouts of the ogre? — Fairy Tales (pg3027), The Cat, the Fal… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the falcon ascertain the whereabouts of the ogre? Exam question 2 of lesson 1158 «Fairy Tales (pg3027), The Cat, the Falcon and the Ogre, part 24: the stone is fished back out of the sea» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the q
---

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# Exam question 2 · Fairy Tales (pg3027), The Cat, the Falcon and the Ogre, pa…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the falcon ascertain the whereabouts of the ogre?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** falcon · **What happens:** mean, ascertain · **To what, where:** whereabouts

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 1158 «Fairy Tales (pg3027), The Cat, the Falcon and the Ogre, part 24: the stone is fished back out of the sea» 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/1158-pg3027-part24/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1158-pg3027-part24:e2:1
# text = By what means did the falcon ascertain the whereabouts of the ogre?
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	7	advcl	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	falcon	falcon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	whereabouts	whereabouts	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	ogre	ogre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	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 | **ascertain** | past · do-support | the falcon | the whereabouts of the ogre |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whereabouts=Topic |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By flying to a great height

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1158-pg3027-part24:e2:o1:1
# text = By flying to a great height
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	height	height	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | to a great height *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to height=Result |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By sight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1158-pg3027-part24:e2:o2:1
# text = By sight
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By asking the passing rats

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1158-pg3027-part24:e2:o3:1
# text = By asking the passing rats
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	asking	ask	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	passing	passing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	rats	rat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund |  | the passing rats |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent rat=Recipient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By searching the sea floor

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1158-pg3027-part24:e2:o4:1
# text = By searching the sea floor
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	searching	search	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **search** | gerund |  | the sea floor |  |  |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent floor=Location |

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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: [Fairy Tales (pg3027), The Cat, the Fal…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1158-pg3027-part24/e1/)
- next →: [Fairy Tales (pg3027), The Cat, the Fal…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1158-pg3027-part24/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Fairy Tales (pg3027), The Cat, the Falcon and the Ogre, part 24: the stone is fished back out of the sea](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1158-pg3027-part24/)