---
title: By what means did the crow ascertain the events concerning Kay? — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the crow ascertain the events concerning Kay? Exam question 2 of lesson 1626 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen, part 15: Gerda learns Kay is at a princess's palace and sneaks in, only to find the wrong boy» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tre
---

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# Exam question 2 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen, part 15: Gerda lea…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the crow ascertain the events concerning Kay?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** events · **What happens:** mean, do, ascertain, concern · **To what, where:** crow, events, Kay · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 1626 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen, part 15: Gerda learns Kay is at a princess's palace and sneaks in, only to find the wrong boy» 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/1626-pg5615-part15/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1626-pg5615-part15:e2:1
# text = By what means did the crow ascertain the events concerning Kay?
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	crow	crow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	events	event	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	concerning	concern	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	acl	_	_
11	Kay	Kay	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	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 crow |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crow=Eventuality |
| 3 | **ascertain** | present |  | the events |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent event=Topic |
| 4 | **concern** | gerund | the events *not said here* | Kay |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus kay=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Through intelligence supplied by his tame sweetheart

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1626-pg5615-part15:e2:o1:1
# text = Through intelligence supplied by his tame sweetheart
1	Through	through	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	intelligence	intelligence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	supplied	supply	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	tame	tame	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	sweetheart	sweetheart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **supply** | participle |  | intelligence *not said here* |  |  |  | by his tame sweetheart | vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Through news brought by his sweetheart from the palace

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1626-pg5615-part15:e2:o2:1
# text = Through news brought by his sweetheart from the palace
1	Through	through	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	sweetheart	sweetheart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	palace	palace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bring** | participle |  | news *not said here* |  | the palace |  | by his sweetheart | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent from palace=Initial\_Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Through a message from his sweetheart

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1626-pg5615-part15:e2:o3:1
# text = Through a message from his sweetheart
1	Through	through	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	message	message	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	sweetheart	sweetheart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By flying to the palace windows and reading the newspapers left out by the princess's servants

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1626-pg5615-part15:e2:o4:1
# text = By flying to the palace windows and reading the newspapers left out by the princess's servants
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	palace	palace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	windows	window	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	reading	read	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	conj	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	newspapers	newspaper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
12	out	out	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	's	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | to the palace windows *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to window=Result |
| 2 | **read** | gerund |  | the newspapers |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent newspaper=Topic |
| 3 | **leave out** | participle |  | the newspapers *not said here* |  |  |  | by the princess's servants | vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: 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: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1626-pg5615-part15/e1/)
- next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1626-pg5615-part15/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen, part 15: Gerda learns Kay is at a princess's palace and sneaks in, only to find the wrong boy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1626-pg5615-part15/)