---
title: By what means was the king's life rescued from the current? — Lang's Fairy Book, The White Slipper,… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means was the king's life rescued from the current? Exam question 2 of lesson 1196 «Lang's Fairy Book, The White Slipper, part 62: the king loses his slipper and a youth offers a cure» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and o
---

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# Exam question 2 · Lang's Fairy Book, The White Slipper, part 62: the king lo…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means was the king's life rescued from the current?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1196 «Lang's Fairy Book, The White Slipper, part 62: the king loses his slipper and a youth offers a cure» 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/1196-pg3027-part62/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1196-pg3027-part62:e2:1
# text = By what means was the king's life rescued from the current?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	nsubj	_	_
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	2	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
9	rescued	rescue	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	current	current	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the king's life |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **rescue** | past |  |  |  | the current |  |  | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent from current=Source |

<!-- .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 -->
a servant pulling his hair

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1196-pg3027-part62:e2:o1:1
# text = a servant pulling his hair
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	pulling	pull	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull** | gerund | a servant *not said here* | his hair |  |  |  |  | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hair=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a boat hook

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1196-pg3027-part62:e2:o2:1
# text = a boat hook
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	hook	hook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a swimmer seizing his tunic

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1196-pg3027-part62:e2:o3:1
# text = a swimmer seizing his tunic
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	swimmer	swimmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	seizing	seize	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	tunic	tunic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seize** | gerund | a swimmer *not said here* | his tunic |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tunic=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a sailor grabbing his arm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1196-pg3027-part62:e2:o4:1
# text = a sailor grabbing his arm
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sailor	sailor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	grabbing	grab	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grab** | gerund | a sailor *not said here* | his arm |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=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.

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- ← previous: [Lang's Fairy Book, The White Slipper,…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1196-pg3027-part62/e1/)
- next →: [Lang's Fairy Book, The White Slipper,…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1196-pg3027-part62/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Lang's Fairy Book, The White Slipper, part 62: the king loses his slipper and a youth offers a cure](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1196-pg3027-part62/)