---
title: By what expedient did the Cottager secure his daughter's safety? — Aesop's Fables, The Lion in Love: a li… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what expedient did the Cottager secure his daughter's safety? Exam question 2 of lesson 152 «Aesop's Fables, The Lion in Love: a lion wins a cottager's daughter by giving up his teeth and claws» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question 
---

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# Exam question 2 · Aesop's Fables, The Lion in Love: a lion wins a cottager's…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what expedient did the Cottager secure his daughter's safety?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** expedient, Cottager · **What happens:** do, secure · **To what, where:** safety

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 152 «Aesop's Fables, The Lion in Love: a lion wins a cottager's daughter by giving up his teeth and claws» 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/152-pg11339-part22/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:152-pg11339-part22:e2:1
# text = By what expedient did the Cottager secure his daughter's safety?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	obl	_	_
3	expedient	expedient	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Cottager	cottager	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	secure	secure	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	safety	safety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | expedient |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **secure** | past | the Cottager | Cottager's daughter's safety |  |  |  |  | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition safety=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 inviting the suitor to dinner and then disarming him in secret

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:152-pg11339-part22:e2:o1:1
# text = By inviting the suitor to dinner and then disarming him in secret
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	inviting	invite	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	suitor	suitor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	9	advmod	_	_
9	disarming	disarm	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invite** | gerund |  | the suitor |  |  |  | to dinner | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent suitor=Recipient |
| 2 | **disarm** | gerund |  | him *= he* |  | secret | then |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By bribing the lion's friends

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:152-pg11339-part22:e2:o2:1
# text = By bribing the lion's friends
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	bribing	bribe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bribe** | gerund |  | the lion's friends |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friend=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By disarming the suitor

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:152-pg11339-part22:e2:o3:1
# text = By disarming the suitor
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	disarming	disarm	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	suitor	suitor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **disarm** | gerund |  | the suitor |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus suitor=Experiencer |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By hiding in the barn

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:152-pg11339-part22:e2:o4:1
# text = By hiding in the barn
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	hiding	hide	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	barn	barn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | gerund |  |  |  | the barn |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in barn=Location |

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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: [Aesop's Fables, The Lion in Love: a li…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/152-pg11339-part22/e1/)
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