---
title: By what means did the shepherd of Myddvai identify the lake-maiden a… — Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shepherd of My… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the shepherd of Myddvai identify the lake-maiden among her sisters? Exam question 3 of lesson 1993 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shepherd of Myddvai: the lake-maiden leaves after three blows» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the qu
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1993-pg7885-part12/e3/)

<!-- 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/) / [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shepherd of My…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1993-pg7885-part12/) / e3

# Exam question 3 · Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shepherd of Myddvai: the lake-maid…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the shepherd of Myddvai identify the lake-maiden among her sisters?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** shepherd · **What happens:** mean, do, identify · **To what, where:** lake maiden

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1993 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shepherd of Myddvai: the lake-maiden leaves after three blows» 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/1993-pg7885-part12/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1993-pg7885-part12:e3:1
# text = By what means did the shepherd of Myddvai identify the lake-maiden among her sisters?
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	shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Myddvai	Myddvai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	identify	identify	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
11	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	maiden	maiden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
14	among	among	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	sisters	sister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	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 |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 3 | **identify** | present | the shepherd of Myddvai | the lake maiden |  |  |  | among shepherd's sisters | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent maiden=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By the strap of her sandal

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1993-pg7885-part12:e3:o1:1
# text = By the strap of her sandal
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	strap	strap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	sandal	sandal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By the tiny silver strap of the sandal she wore on her left foot

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1993-pg7885-part12:e3:o2:1
# text = By the tiny silver strap of the sandal she wore on her left foot
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	strap	strap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sandal	sandal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	wore	wear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	left	left	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wear** | past | she |  |  | her left foot |  | by the tiny silver strap of the sandal | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By the strap of her sandal, which was the only thing he could see

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1993-pg7885-part12:e3:o3:1
# text = By the strap of her sandal, which was the only thing he could see
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	strap	strap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	sandal	sandal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | her sandal | the only thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | could | he | the only thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer thing=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By the ribbon of her dress

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1993-pg7885-part12:e3:o4:1
# text = By the ribbon of her dress
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	ribbon	ribbon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	dress	dress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

<!-- 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: [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shepherd of My…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1993-pg7885-part12/e2/)
- next →: [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shepherd of My…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1993-pg7885-part12/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shepherd of Myddvai: the lake-maiden leaves after three blows](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1993-pg7885-part12/)