---
title: By what means did Sigurd acquire knowledge of the speech of birds? — Norse Hero Tales, Sigurd the Dragonsla… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did Sigurd acquire knowledge of the speech of birds? Exam question 2 of lesson 1584 «Norse Hero Tales, Sigurd the Dragonslayer, part 81: Sigurd kills Fafnir, learns the birds' speech, and wakes Brynhild» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmat
---

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# Exam question 2 · Norse Hero Tales, Sigurd the Dragonslayer, part 81: Sigurd…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did Sigurd acquire knowledge of the speech of birds?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Sigurd · **What happens:** mean, acquire, speak · **To what, where:** knowledge, birds · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 1584 «Norse Hero Tales, Sigurd the Dragonslayer, part 81: Sigurd kills Fafnir, learns the birds' speech, and wakes Brynhild» 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/1584-pg540-part81/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1584-pg540-part81:e2:1
# text = By what means did Sigurd acquire knowledge of the speech of birds?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	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	6	aux	_	_
5	Sigurd	Sigurd	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	acquire	acquire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	speech	speech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	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 | Sigurd | knowledge of the speech of birds |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knowledge=Theme |
| 3 | **speak** |  |  | birds |  |  |  |  | nom speech «communication 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By reading runes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1584-pg540-part81:e2:o1:1
# text = By reading runes
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	reading	read	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	runes	rune	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By tasting the heart of Fafnir

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1584-pg540-part81:e2:o2:1
# text = By tasting the heart of Fafnir
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	tasting	taste	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Fafnir	Fafnir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **taste** | gerund |  | the heart of Fafnir |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Theme heart=Attribute |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By drinking blood

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1584-pg540-part81:e2:o3:1
# text = By drinking blood
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	drinking	drink	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drink** | gerund |  | blood |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent blood=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By listening to the wind

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1584-pg540-part81:e2:o4:1
# text = By listening to the wind
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	listening	listen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **listen** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | to the wind | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to wind=Theme |

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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: [Norse Hero Tales, Sigurd the Dragonsla…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1584-pg540-part81/e1/)
- next →: [Norse Hero Tales, Sigurd the Dragonsla…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1584-pg540-part81/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Norse Hero Tales, Sigurd the Dragonslayer, part 81: Sigurd kills Fafnir, learns the birds' speech, and wakes Brynhild](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1584-pg540-part81/)