---
title: Identify the means by which the hermit professed to determine the fa… — Indian Fairy Tales, Puruna, part 54: t… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the means by which the hermit professed to determine the fates of men. Exam question 2 of lesson 1253 «Indian Fairy Tales, Puruna, part 54: the king's hunt and the hermit's prophecy» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of
---

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# Exam question 2 · Indian Fairy Tales, Puruna, part 54: the king's hunt and t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the means by which the hermit professed to determine the fates of men.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, the, hermit · **What happens:** identify, mean, profess, determine, fate · **To what, where:** fates, men · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1253 «Indian Fairy Tales, Puruna, part 54: the king's hunt and the hermit's prophecy» 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/1253-pg3282-part54/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1253-pg3282-part54:e2:1
# text = Identify the means by which the hermit professed to determine the fates of men.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	nsubj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	obl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	hermit	hermit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	professed	profess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	determine	determine	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	fates	fate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **mean** | present | the |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **profess** | past | the hermit |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-2 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **determine** | to-infinitive | the hermit *not said here* | the fates of men |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fate=Topic |
| 5 | **fate** |  |  | men |  |  |  |  | nom fate «event transitive»: of=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by throwing dry leaves into a stream and watching them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1253-pg3282-part54:e2:o1:1
# text = by throwing dry leaves into a stream and watching them
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	throwing	throw	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **throw** | gerund |  | dry leaves |  |  |  | into a stream *result* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer leaf=Theme into stream=Result |
| 2 | **watch** | gerund |  | leaves *= leaf* |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by casting dry leaves into a fast river and reading how they float

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1253-pg3282-part54:e2:o2:1
# text = by casting dry leaves into a fast river and reading how they float
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	casting	cast	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	fast	fast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	reading	read	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	conj	_	_
11	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	float	float	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cast** | gerund |  | dry leaves |  | a fast river |  |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent leaf=Material into river=Product |
| 2 | **read** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **float** | present | leaves *= leaf* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by throwing leaves into a stream

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1253-pg3282-part54:e2:o3:1
# text = by throwing leaves into a stream
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	throwing	throw	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **throw** | gerund |  | leaves |  |  |  | into a stream *result* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer leaf=Theme into stream=Result |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by reading the palm of hands

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1253-pg3282-part54:e2:o4:1
# text = by reading the palm of hands
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	reading	read	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** | gerund |  | the palm of hands |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent palm=Topic |

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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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