---
title: By what means did the old man acquire the bronze ring? — Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the old man acquire the bronze ring? Exam question 1 of lesson 1415 «Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, part 2: the golden ship turns black after the old man steals the ring» 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 1 · Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, part 2: the golden ship…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the old man acquire the bronze ring?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** old man · **What happens:** mean, acquire · **To what, where:** bronze ring

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 1415 «Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, part 2: the golden ship turns black after the old man steals the ring» 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/1415-pg503-part2/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1415-pg503-part2:e1:1
# text = By what means did the old man acquire the bronze ring?
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	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	acquire	acquire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	bronze	bronze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	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 | **acquire** | past · do-support | the old man | the bronze ring |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ring=Theme |

<!-- .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 winning a bet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1415-pg503-part2:e1:o1:1
# text = By winning a bet
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	winning	win	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	bet	bet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **win** | gerund |  | a bet |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bet=Eventuality |

### Option 2 {#o2}

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

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1415-pg503-part2:e1:o2:1
# text = By theft
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	theft	theft	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 -->
By trading red fishes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1415-pg503-part2:e1:o3:1
# text = By trading red fishes
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	trading	trade	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	fishes	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **trade** | gerund |  | red fishes |  |  |  |  | vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

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

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1415-pg503-part2:e1:o4:1
# text = By force
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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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