---
title: By what means did the Prince overcome the magician? — Slavonic Tales, The Magic Ring, part 1… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the Prince overcome the magician? Exam question 3 of lesson 1717 «Slavonic Tales, The Magic Ring, part 1: Martin spends his mother's money on a dog and a cat» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; M
---

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# Exam question 3 · Slavonic Tales, The Magic Ring, part 1: Martin spends his…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the Prince overcome the magician?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Prince · **What happens:** mean, overcome · **To what, where:** magician

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 1717 «Slavonic Tales, The Magic Ring, part 1: Martin spends his mother's money on a dog and a cat» 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/1717-pg640-part41/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1717-pg640-part41:e3:1
# text = By what means did the Prince overcome the magician?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
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	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	overcome	overcome	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	magician	magician	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	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 | **overcome** | past · do-support | the Prince | the magician |  |  |  |  | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot magician=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
With a sword

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1717-pg640-part41:e3:o1:1
# text = With a sword
1	With	with	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By seizing him by the beard and casting him down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1717-pg640-part41:e3:o2:1
# text = By seizing him by the beard and casting him down
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	seizing	seize	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	beard	beard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	casting	cast	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	down	down	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seize** | gerund |  | him *= he* |  |  |  | by the beard | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 2 | **cast down** | gerund |  | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By bribing him with a golden ring

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1717-pg640-part41:e3:o3:1
# text = By bribing him with a golden ring
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	bribing	bribe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	golden	golden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bribe** | gerund |  | him *= he* |  |  |  | with a golden ring | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By tripping him up and then pinning him to the ground

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1717-pg640-part41:e3:o4:1
# text = By tripping him up and then pinning him to the ground
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	tripping	trip	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	up	up	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
7	pinning	pin	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **trip up** | gerund |  | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Agent |
| 2 | **pin** | gerund |  | him *= he* |  |  | then | to the ground | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent he=Patient to ground=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: [Slavonic Tales, The Magic Ring, part 1…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1717-pg640-part41/e2/)
- next →: [Slavonic Tales, The Magic Ring, part 1…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1717-pg640-part41/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Slavonic Tales, The Magic Ring, part 1: Martin spends his mother's money on a dog and a cat](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1717-pg640-part41/)