---
title: By what means did the Scarecrow render the stinging bees harmless to… — The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Wicked… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the Scarecrow render the stinging bees harmless to Dorothy and her companions? Exam question 4 of lesson 1600 «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Wicked Witch of the West, part 15: wolves, crows and bees all fail, so the Witch reaches for her Golden Cap» of the books course of Mova's 
---

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# Exam question 4 · The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Wicked Witch of the West,…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the Scarecrow render the stinging bees harmless to Dorothy and her companions?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** mean, do, render, sting · **To what, where:** Scarecrow, stinging bees · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 1600 «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Wicked Witch of the West, part 15: wolves, crows and bees all fail, so the Witch reaches for her Golden Cap» 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/1600-pg55-part15/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1600-pg55-part15:e4:1
# text = By what means did the Scarecrow render the stinging bees harmless to Dorothy and her companions?
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	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Scarecrow	scarecrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	render	render	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	stinging	sting	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	amod	_	_
10	bees	bee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
11	harmless	harmless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	Dorothy	Dorothy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	companions	companion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	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 |  | the Scarecrow |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent scarecrow=Eventuality |
| 3 | **render** | present |  | the stinging bees |  |  |  | harmless *property* | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bee=Theme |
| 4 | **sting** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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 -->
With straw

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1600-pg55-part15:e4:o1:1
# text = With straw
1	With	with	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	straw	straw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By covering them with dust

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1600-pg55-part15:e4:o2:1
# text = By covering them with dust
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	covering	cover	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cover** | gerund |  | them *= they* |  |  |  | with dust | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent they=Destination with dust=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By scattering straw over them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1600-pg55-part15:e4:o3:1
# text = By scattering straw over them
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	scattering	scatter	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	straw	straw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	over	over	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scatter** | gerund |  | straw |  |  |  | over them *= they* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent straw=Theme over they=Destination |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By burning them with fire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1600-pg55-part15:e4:o4:1
# text = By burning them with fire
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burn** | gerund |  | them *= they* |  |  |  | with fire | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent they=Patient with fire=Instrument |

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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: [The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Wicked…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1600-pg55-part15/e3/)
- next →: [Oz, The Winged Monkeys, part 16: Dorot…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1601-pg55-part16/t1/)
- ↑ back to [The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Wicked Witch of the West, part 15: wolves, crows and bees all fail, so the Witch reaches for her Golden Cap](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1600-pg55-part15/)