---
title: By what means did Hans gain entry through the gate? — Danish Fairy Tales, Hans, the Mermaid'… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did Hans gain entry through the gate? Exam question 3 of lesson 1633 «Danish Fairy Tales, Hans, the Mermaid's son: Hans makes the lake's fish flood the squire's yard and returns with gold from Purgatory» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmat
---

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# Exam question 3 · Danish Fairy Tales, Hans, the Mermaid's son: Hans makes th…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did Hans gain entry through the gate?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Hans · **What happens:** mean, gain · **To what, where:** entry, gate · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1633 «Danish Fairy Tales, Hans, the Mermaid's son: Hans makes the lake's fish flood the squire's yard and returns with gold from Purgatory» 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/1633-pg5615-part22/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1633-pg5615-part22:e3:1
# text = By what means did Hans gain entry through the gate?
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	0	root	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	Hans	Hans	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	gain	gain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
7	entry	entry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	through	through	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	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 | **gain** | past · do-support | Hans | entry |  | the gate |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent entry=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By smashing it with his staff until the hinges broke

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1633-pg5615-part22:e3:o1:1
# text = By smashing it with his staff until the hinges broke
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	smashing	smash	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
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	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	staff	staff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	until	until	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	hinges	hinge	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
10	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smash** | gerund |  | it |  |  | until the hinges | with his staff | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient with staff=Instrument |
| 2 | **break** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By smashing it hard with his heavy wooden staff

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1633-pg5615-part22:e3:o2:1
# text = By smashing it hard with his heavy wooden staff
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	smashing	smash	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	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
7	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	wooden	wooden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	staff	staff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smash** | gerund |  | it |  |  |  | with his heavy wooden staff; hard *property* | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient with staff=Instrument |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By asking the guard nicely

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1633-pg5615-part22:e3:o3:1
# text = By asking the guard nicely
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	asking	ask	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	guard	guard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	nicely	nicely	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund |  | the guard |  |  |  | nicely *property* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent guard=Recipient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By smashing it with his staff

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1633-pg5615-part22:e3:o4:1
# text = By smashing it with his staff
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	smashing	smash	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	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	staff	staff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smash** | gerund |  | it |  |  |  | with his staff | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient with staff=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: [Danish Fairy Tales, Hans, the Mermaid'…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1633-pg5615-part22/e2/)
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