---
title: By what means did the giant identify the necks of his own daughters… — English Fairy Tales, Molly Whuppie, pa… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the giant identify the necks of his own daughters in the darkness? Exam question 2 of lesson 1961 «English Fairy Tales, Molly Whuppie, part 1: Childe Rowland frees his sister and the Elfin King, then Molly Whuppie tricks a giant three times» of the books course of Mova's primary sc
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1961-pg7439-part20/e2/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [English Fairy Tales, Molly Whuppie, pa…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1961-pg7439-part20/) / e2

# Exam question 2 · English Fairy Tales, Molly Whuppie, part 1: Childe Rowland…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the giant identify the necks of his own daughters in the darkness?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** mean, do, identify · **To what, where:** necks · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1961 «English Fairy Tales, Molly Whuppie, part 1: Childe Rowland frees his sister and the Elfin King, then Molly Whuppie tricks a giant three times» 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/1961-pg7439-part20/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1961-pg7439-part20:e2:1
# text = By what means did the giant identify the necks of his own daughters in the darkness?
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	6	det	_	_
6	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
7	identify	identify	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	necks	neck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
12	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	daughters	daughter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	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 |  |  |  |  |  | giant *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **identify** | infinitive |  | the necks of his own daughters in the darkness |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent neck=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 -->
by their voices

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1961-pg7439-part20:e2:o1:1
# text = by their voices
1	by	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	voices	voice	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by feeling for the straw ropes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1961-pg7439-part20:e2:o2:1
# text = by feeling for the straw ropes
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	feeling	feel	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	straw	straw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	ropes	rope	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feel** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | for the straw ropes | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent for rope=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by smelling the sweet hair

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1961-pg7439-part20:e2:o3:1
# text = by smelling the sweet hair
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	smelling	smell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	sweet	sweet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smell** | gerund |  | the sweet hair |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hair=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by listening to their breathing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1961-pg7439-part20:e2:o4:1
# text = by listening to their breathing
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	listening	listen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	breathing	breathing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **listen** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | to their breathing | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to breathing=Theme |
| 2 | **breathe** |  | their *= they* |  |  |  |  |  | nom breathing «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- div src -->

**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: [English Fairy Tales, Molly Whuppie, pa…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1961-pg7439-part20/e1/)
- next →: [English Fairy Tales, Molly Whuppie, pa…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1961-pg7439-part20/e3/)
- ↑ back to [English Fairy Tales, Molly Whuppie, part 1: Childe Rowland frees his sister and the Elfin King, then Molly Whuppie tricks a giant three times](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1961-pg7439-part20/)