---
title: By what means did the fishes free Thumbelina from the toad's intenti… — Andersen, Thumbelina, part 1: a tiny g… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the fishes free Thumbelina from the toad's intention? Exam question 2 of lesson 1740 «Andersen, Thumbelina, part 1: a tiny girl grows from a flower and a toad tries to steal her» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question a
---

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# Exam question 2 · Andersen, Thumbelina, part 1: a tiny girl grows from a flo…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the fishes free Thumbelina from the toad's intention?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** toad · **What happens:** mean, do, intend · **To what, where:** fishes, intention

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1740 «Andersen, Thumbelina, part 1: a tiny girl grows from a flower and a toad tries to steal her» 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/1740-pg640-part64/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1740-pg640-part64:e2:1
# text = By what means did the fishes free Thumbelina from the toad's intention?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	fishes	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	Thumbelina	Thumbelina	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	toad	toad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	intention	intention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	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 | **do** | past |  | the fishes |  | the toad's intention |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **intend** |  | the toad |  |  |  |  |  | nom intention «cognition 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By nibbling the stem in two

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1740-pg640-part64:e2:o1:1
# text = By nibbling the stem in two
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	nibbling	nibble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	stem	stem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **nibble** | gerund |  | the stem |  | two |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stem=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By nibbling the stem in two so the toad could not reach her

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1740-pg640-part64:e2:o2:1
# text = By nibbling the stem in two so the toad could not reach her
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	nibbling	nibble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	stem	stem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nmod	_	_
7	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	toad	toad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
13	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **nibble** | gerund |  | the stem |  | two |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stem=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **reach** | could | the toad | her *= she* |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent she=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By cutting the leaf apart

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1740-pg640-part64:e2:o3:1
# text = By cutting the leaf apart
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	cutting	cut	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	apart	apart	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut** | gerund |  | the leaf |  |  |  | apart *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset leaf=Product |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By nibbling the stem in two until the leaf fell into the water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1740-pg640-part64:e2:o4:1
# text = By nibbling the stem in two until the leaf fell into the water
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	nibbling	nibble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	stem	stem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	obl	_	_
7	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	into	into	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **nibble** | gerund | the leaf *not said here* | the stem |  | two |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stem=Patient |
| 2 | **fall** | past | the leaf |  |  |  |  | into the water *result* | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient into water=Result |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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