---
title: By what means did the peasant immobilise the Tanuki prior to its pun… — Japanese Fairy Tales, The Slaying of t… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the peasant immobilise the Tanuki prior to its punishment? Exam question 2 of lesson 1617 «Japanese Fairy Tales, The Slaying of the Tanuki, part 6: the hare burns the Tanuki's back» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the questio
---

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# Exam question 2 · Japanese Fairy Tales, The Slaying of the Tanuki, part 6: t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the peasant immobilise the Tanuki prior to its punishment?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** peasant · **What happens:** mean, immobilise, punish · **To what, where:** Tanuki

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1617 «Japanese Fairy Tales, The Slaying of the Tanuki, part 6: the hare burns the Tanuki's back» 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/1617-pg5615-part6/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1617-pg5615-part6:e2:1
# text = By what means did the peasant immobilise the Tanuki prior to its punishment?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	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	7	aux	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	peasant	peasant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	immobilise	immobilise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Tanuki	Tanuki	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	prior	prior	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	13	case	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	fixed	_	_
12	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	punishment	punishment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	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 |
| 2 | **immobilise** | past · do-support | the peasant | the Tanuki |  |  |  | prior peasant's punishment | tree rules |
| 3 | **punish** |  | peasant |  |  |  |  |  | nom punishment «act transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 pinning its head down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1617-pg5615-part6:e2:o1:1
# text = by pinning its head down
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	pinning	pin	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	down	down	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pin down** | gerund |  | its head |  |  |  | down *property* | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by binding its four legs tightly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1617-pg5615-part6:e2:o2:1
# text = by binding its four legs tightly
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	binding	bind	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	tightly	tightly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bind** | gerund |  | its four legs |  |  |  | tightly *property* | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Patient |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by hitting it with a stick

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1617-pg5615-part6:e2:o3:1
# text = by hitting it with a stick
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	hitting	hit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hit** | gerund |  | it |  |  |  | with a stick | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient with stick=Instrument |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by chasing it into a pit and tying its legs with rope and straw

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1617-pg5615-part6:e2:o4:1
# text = by chasing it into a pit and tying its legs with rope and straw
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	chasing	chase	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	pit	pit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	tying	tie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
9	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	straw	straw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chase** | gerund |  | it |  | a pit |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Theme into pit=Trajectory |
| 2 | **tie** | gerund |  | pit's legs |  |  |  | with rope and straw | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent leg=Patient with rope=Co-Patient |

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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: [Japanese Fairy Tales, The Slaying of t…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1617-pg5615-part6/e1/)
- next →: [Japanese Fairy Tales, The Slaying of t…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1617-pg5615-part6/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Japanese Fairy Tales, The Slaying of the Tanuki, part 6: the hare burns the Tanuki's back](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1617-pg5615-part6/)