---
title: By what means did the boy effect his transformation into a common-lo… — Old Deccan Days, The Boy with the Moon… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the boy effect his transformation into a common-looking man? Exam question 2 of lesson 1845 «Old Deccan Days, The Boy with the Moon on his Forehead, part 29: Katar hides the prince, then the prince becomes a poor servant» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the depen
---

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# Exam question 2 · Old Deccan Days, The Boy with the Moon on his Forehead, pa…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the boy effect his transformation into a common-looking man?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** his · **What happens:** mean, do, look, transform · **To what, where:** boy effect · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1845 «Old Deccan Days, The Boy with the Moon on his Forehead, part 29: Katar hides the prince, then the prince becomes a poor servant» 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/1845-pg7128-part29/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1845-pg7128-part29:e2:1
# text = By what means did the boy effect his transformation into a common-looking man?
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	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	effect	effect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	transformation	transformation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
10	into	into	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
12	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	looking	look	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	amod	_	_
15	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	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 | **do** | past |  | the boy effect  his transformation |  |  |  | into a looking man | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent effect=Eventuality |
| 3 | **look** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **transform** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom transformation «event 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 twisting the right ear of the horse

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1845-pg7128-part29:e2:o1:1
# text = By twisting the right ear of the horse
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	twisting	twist	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **twist** | gerund |  | the right ear of the horse |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent ear=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By twisting the right ear of the horse three times

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1845-pg7128-part29:e2:o2:1
# text = By twisting the right ear of the horse three times
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	twisting	twist	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **twist** | gerund |  | the right ear of the horse |  |  | time |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent ear=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By pulling the left ear of the horse

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1845-pg7128-part29:e2:o3:1
# text = By pulling the left ear of the horse
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	pulling	pull	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	left	left	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull** | gerund |  | the left ear of the horse |  |  |  |  | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ear=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By twisting the right ear of the horse while singing a song

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1845-pg7128-part29:e2:o4:1
# text = By twisting the right ear of the horse while singing a song
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	twisting	twist	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
10	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **twist** | gerund |  | the right ear of the horse |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent ear=Theme |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | gerund |  | a song |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location song=Theme |

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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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Old Deccan Days, The Boy with the Moon…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1845-pg7128-part29/e1/)
- next →: [Old Deccan Days, The Boy with the Moon…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1845-pg7128-part29/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Old Deccan Days, The Boy with the Moon on his Forehead, part 29: Katar hides the prince, then the prince becomes a poor servant](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1845-pg7128-part29/)