---
title: By what means did the bridegroom destroy the serpent's three heads? — Russian Fairy Tales, The Sister of the… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the bridegroom destroy the serpent's three heads? Exam question 4 of lesson 1238 «Russian Fairy Tales, The Sister of the Sun, part 39: a ship saves the boy, and the king sets three tasks» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the q
---

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# Exam question 4 · Russian Fairy Tales, The Sister of the Sun, part 39: a shi…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the bridegroom destroy the serpent's three heads?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** bridegroom · **What happens:** mean, destroy · **To what, where:** three heads

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 1238 «Russian Fairy Tales, The Sister of the Sun, part 39: a ship saves the boy, and the king sets three tasks» 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/1238-pg3282-part39/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1238-pg3282-part39:e4:1
# text = By what means did the bridegroom destroy the serpent's three heads?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	obl	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
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	bridegroom	bridegroom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	destroy	destroy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	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 | **destroy** | past · do-support | the bridegroom | the serpent's three heads |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
with one blow of the sword

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1238-pg3282-part39:e4:o1:1
# text = with one blow of the sword
1	with	with	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blow** |  | the sword |  |  |  |  |  | nom blow «act intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by burning all three heads with the princess's fire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1238-pg3282-part39:e4:o2:1
# text = by burning all three heads with the princess's fire
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	det	_	_
4	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burn** | gerund |  | all three heads |  |  |  | with the princess's fire | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent head=Patient with fire=Instrument |
| 2 | **fire** |  | the princess |  |  |  |  |  | nom fire «event transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
with a spear thrust to his heart

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1238-pg3282-part39:e4:o3:1
# text = with a spear thrust to his heart
1	with	with	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	thrust	thrust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
with one blow of the magic sword and the sun's light

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1238-pg3282-part39:e4:o4:1
# text = with one blow of the magic sword and the sun's light
1	with	with	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	magic	magic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blow** |  | the magic sword |  |  |  |  |  | nom blow «act intransitive»: of=agent |
| 2 | **light** |  | the sun |  |  |  |  |  | nom light «phenomenon transitive»: poss=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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Russian Fairy Tales, The Sister of the…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1238-pg3282-part39/e3/)
- next →: [Fairy Book, The Prince and His Dog, pa…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1240-pg3282-part41/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Russian Fairy Tales, The Sister of the Sun, part 39: a ship saves the boy, and the king sets three tasks](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1238-pg3282-part39/)