---
title: By what means did the king establish that an intruder had entered th… — Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw,… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the king establish that an intruder had entered the stable? Exam question 2 of lesson 1989 «Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, part 8: a theft from the king's stable, then a tale of cats» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of t
---

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# Exam question 2 · Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, part 8: a theft fro…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the king establish that an intruder had entered the stable?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **What happens:** mean, do, establish, enter · **To what, where:** king, intruder · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 1989 «Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, part 8: a theft from the king's stable, then a tale of cats» 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/1989-pg7885-part8/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1989-pg7885-part8:e2:1
# text = By what means did the king establish that an intruder had entered the stable?
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	7	advcl	_	_
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	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	establish	establish	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	intruder	intruder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	entered	enter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	stable	stable	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	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 king |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent king=Eventuality |
| 3 | **establish** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 4 | **enter** | past · perfect · passive |  | a intruder |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 following the tracks of the men through the snow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1989-pg7885-part8:e2:o1:1
# text = By following the tracks of the men through the snow
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	tracks	track	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	through	through	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  | the tracks of the men |  | the snow |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent track=Theme through snow=Trajectory |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By following the tracks of the men

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1989-pg7885-part8:e2:o2:1
# text = By following the tracks of the men
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	tracks	track	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  | the tracks of the men |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent track=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By following the tracks of the men and the sacks left behind

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1989-pg7885-part8:e2:o3:1
# text = By following the tracks of the men and the sacks left behind
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	tracks	track	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	sacks	sack	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	_
11	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
12	behind	behind	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  | the tracks of the men and the sacks |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent track=Theme |
| 2 | **leave behind** | participle |  | the sacks *not said here* |  |  |  | behind *property* | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By counting the hoofprints outside

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1989-pg7885-part8:e2:o4:1
# text = By counting the hoofprints outside
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	counting	count	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	hoofprints	hoofprint	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	outside	outside	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **count** | gerund |  | the hoofprints |  |  |  | outside *property* | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hoofprint=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 -->

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- ← previous: [Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw,…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1989-pg7885-part8/e1/)
- next →: [Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw,…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1989-pg7885-part8/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, part 8: a theft from the king's stable, then a tale of cats](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1989-pg7885-part8/)