---
title: By what means did the herd demonstrate his entitlement to the hand o… — Celtic Fairy Tales, The Herd Boy, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the herd demonstrate his entitlement to the hand of the princess? Exam question 2 of lesson 2008 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Herd Boy, part 27: the herd wins the princess by untying the heads, then is taken to the loch» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2008-pg7885-part27/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/) / [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Herd Boy, part…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2008-pg7885-part27/) / e2

# Exam question 2 · Celtic Fairy Tales, The Herd Boy, part 27: the herd wins t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the herd demonstrate his entitlement to the hand of the princess?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** herd · **What happens:** mean, demonstrate · **To what, where:** entitlement, hand

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 2008 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Herd Boy, part 27: the herd wins the princess by untying the heads, then is taken to the loch» 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/2008-pg7885-part27/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2008-pg7885-part27:e2:1
# text = By what means did the herd demonstrate his entitlement to the hand of the princess?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	obl	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	herd	herd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	demonstrate	demonstrate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	entitlement	entitlement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	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 |
| 2 | **demonstrate** | past · do-support | the herd | herd's entitlement | the hand of the princess |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent entitlement=Topic to hand=Recipient |

<!-- .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 playing his harp until the knot fell loose

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2008-pg7885-part27:e2:o1:1
# text = by playing his harp until the knot fell loose
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	playing	play	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	harp	harp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	knot	knot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
9	loose	loose	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | gerund |  | his harp |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent harp=Theme |
| 2 | **fall** | past | the knot |  |  |  |  | loose *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by loosing the heads from the knot without severing them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2008-pg7885-part27:e2:o2:1
# text = by loosing the heads from the knot without severing them
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	loosing	lose	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	knot	knot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	severing	sever	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | gerund |  | the heads |  | the knot |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent head=Theme from knot=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **sever** | gerund |  | heads *= head* |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by loosing the heads from the knot without ever severing them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2008-pg7885-part27:e2:o3:1
# text = by loosing the heads from the knot without ever severing them
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	loosing	lose	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	knot	knot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	10	advmod	_	_
10	severing	sever	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | gerund |  | the heads |  | the knot |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent head=Theme from knot=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **sever** | gerund |  | heads *= head* |  |  | ever |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by untying the heads with care

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2008-pg7885-part27:e2:o4:1
# text = by untying the heads with care
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	untying	untie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	care	care	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **untie** | gerund |  | the heads |  |  |  | with care | vn disassemble-23.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient |

<!-- 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 Herd Boy, part…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2008-pg7885-part27/e1/)
- next →: [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Herd Boy, part…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2008-pg7885-part27/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Herd Boy, part 27: the herd wins the princess by untying the heads, then is taken to the loch](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2008-pg7885-part27/)