---
title: By what means did Prince Ivan cross the fiery river? — Russian Folk-Tales, Marya Morevna, par… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did Prince Ivan cross the fiery river? Exam question 4 of lesson 1514 «Russian Folk-Tales, Marya Morevna, part 11: Ivan finds his wife, is chopped up and brought back to life» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of e
---

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# Exam question 4 · Russian Folk-Tales, Marya Morevna, part 11: Ivan finds his…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did Prince Ivan cross the fiery river?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** mean, do, cross · **To what, where:** Prince Ivan, fiery river · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 1514 «Russian Folk-Tales, Marya Morevna, part 11: Ivan finds his wife, is chopped up and brought back to life» 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/1514-pg540-part11/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1514-pg540-part11:e4:1
# text = By what means did Prince Ivan cross the fiery river?
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	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
5	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	Ivan	Ivan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	cross	cross	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	fiery	fiery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	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 clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** | past |  | Prince Ivan |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ivan=Eventuality |
| 3 | **cross** | present |  | the fiery river |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent river=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 way of a magic bridge

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1514-pg540-part11:e4:o1:1
# text = by way of a magic bridge
1	by	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	bridge	bridge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by means of a scarf

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1514-pg540-part11:e4:o2:1
# text = by means of a scarf
1	by	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	scarf	scarf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of a scarf | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by a handkerchief

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1514-pg540-part11:e4:o3:1
# text = by a handkerchief
1	by	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	handkerchief	handkerchief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by means of a handkerchief

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1514-pg540-part11:e4:o4:1
# text = by means of a handkerchief
1	by	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	handkerchief	handkerchief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of a handkerchief | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=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.

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- ← previous: [Russian Folk-Tales, Marya Morevna, par…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1514-pg540-part11/e3/)
- next →: [Red Fairy Book, Marya Morevna: Ivan ou…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1515-pg540-part12/t1/)
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