---
title: By what means did Lady Mary's brothers and friends dispatch Mr. Fox? — English Fairy Tales, Johnny-Cake, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did Lady Mary's brothers and friends dispatch Mr. Fox? Exam question 2 of lesson 1965 «English Fairy Tales, Johnny-Cake, part 1: Mr. Fox is cut to pieces, Lazy Jack wins a bride, and a cake escapes from the oven» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree an
---

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# Exam question 2 · English Fairy Tales, Johnny-Cake, part 1: Mr. Fox is cut t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did Lady Mary's brothers and friends dispatch Mr. Fox?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Mary brothers · **What happens:** mean, dispatch · **To what, where:** Mr. Fox · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1965 «English Fairy Tales, Johnny-Cake, part 1: Mr. Fox is cut to pieces, Lazy Jack wins a bride, and a cake escapes from the oven» 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/1965-pg7439-part24/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1965-pg7439-part24:e2:1
# text = By what means did Lady Mary's brothers and friends dispatch Mr. Fox?
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	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	Lady	Lady	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	Mary	Mary	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	_
11	dispatch	dispatch	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
12	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	Fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	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 | **dispatch** | present | Mary brothers and friends | Mr. Fox |  |  |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fox=Patient |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by hanging him high

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1965-pg7439-part24:e2:o1:1
# text = by hanging him high
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	hanging	hang	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	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hang** | gerund |  | him *= he* |  |  |  | high *property* | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by cutting him into pieces

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1965-pg7439-part24:e2:o2:1
# text = by cutting him into pieces
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	cutting	cut	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	into	into	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut** | gerund |  | him *= he* |  | pieces |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent he=Material into piece=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by burning him alive

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1965-pg7439-part24:e2:o3:1
# text = by burning him alive
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	burning	burn	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	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burn** | gerund |  | him *= he* |  |  |  | alive *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by chasing him out and cutting him up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1965-pg7439-part24:e2:o4:1
# text = by chasing him out and cutting him up
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	chasing	chase	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	out	out	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	cutting	cut	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	up	up	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chase out** | gerund |  | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 2 | **cut up** | gerund |  | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset he=Product |

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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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- next →: [English Fairy Tales, Johnny-Cake, part…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1965-pg7439-part24/e3/)
- ↑ back to [English Fairy Tales, Johnny-Cake, part 1: Mr. Fox is cut to pieces, Lazy Jack wins a bride, and a cake escapes from the oven](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1965-pg7439-part24/)