---
title: By what means did the magician decipher the secret signs engraved up… — Fairy Tales (pg640), The Magic Ring, p… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the magician decipher the secret signs engraved upon the ring? Exam question 2 of lesson 1681 «Fairy Tales (pg640), The Magic Ring, part 5: the youth steals the ring and gets ready to fight the Dragon» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragm
---

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# Exam question 2 · Fairy Tales (pg640), The Magic Ring, part 5: the youth ste…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the magician decipher the secret signs engraved upon the ring?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** magician · **What happens:** mean, decipher, engrave · **To what, where:** secret signs, ring

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1681 «Fairy Tales (pg640), The Magic Ring, part 5: the youth steals the ring and gets ready to fight the Dragon» 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/1681-pg640-part5/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1681-pg640-part5:e2:1
# text = By what means did the magician decipher the secret signs engraved upon the ring?
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	magician	magician	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	decipher	decipher	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	secret	secret	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	signs	sign	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
11	engraved	engrave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
12	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	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 | **decipher** | past · do-support | the magician | the secret signs |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **engrave** | participle |  | the secret signs *not said here* |  | the ring |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme PP.destination»: agent=Agent upon ring=Destination |

<!-- .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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By the labour of seven weeks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1681-pg640-part5:e2:o1:1
# text = By the labour of seven weeks
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	labour	labour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	weeks	week	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Through a year of careful reading

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1681-pg640-part5:e2:o2:1
# text = Through a year of careful reading
1	Through	through	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	careful	careful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	reading	reading	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By the patient labour of seven long weeks in his tower

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1681-pg640-part5:e2:o3:1
# text = By the patient labour of seven long weeks in his tower
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	patient	patient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	labour	labour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
7	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	weeks	week	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By sending for the wise elders

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1681-pg640-part5:e2:o4:1
# text = By sending for the wise elders
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	sending	send	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	elders	elder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | for the wise elders | vn confine-92-1 «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: [Fairy Tales (pg640), The Magic Ring, p…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1681-pg640-part5/e1/)
- next →: [Fairy Tales (pg640), The Magic Ring, p…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1681-pg640-part5/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Fairy Tales (pg640), The Magic Ring, part 5: the youth steals the ring and gets ready to fight the Dragon](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1681-pg640-part5/)