---
title: By what means did the hero's enterprise against the sea-maiden reach… — Celtic Fairy Tales, The Sea-Maiden: th… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the hero's enterprise against the sea-maiden reach its conclusion? Exam question 2 of lesson 2009 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Sea-Maiden: the egg is broken and the sea-maiden dies» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question an
---

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# Exam question 2 · Celtic Fairy Tales, The Sea-Maiden: the egg is broken and…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the hero's enterprise against the sea-maiden reach its conclusion?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** reach · **What happens:** mean, do, conclude · **To what, where:** enterprise

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 2009 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Sea-Maiden: the egg is broken and the sea-maiden dies» 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/2009-pg7885-part28/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2009-pg7885-part28:e2:1
# text = By what means did the hero's enterprise against the sea-maiden reach its conclusion?
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	hero	hero	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	enterprise	enterprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
9	against	against	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
11	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	maiden	maiden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	reach	reach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
15	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	conclusion	conclusion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	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 |  | the hero's enterprise |  |  |  | against the maiden reach | tree rules |
| 3 | **conclude** |  | reach |  |  |  |  |  | nom conclusion «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 cutting the trout open

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2009-pg7885-part28:e2:o1:1
# text = By cutting the trout open
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	cutting	cut	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	trout	trout	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut** | gerund |  | the trout |  |  |  | open *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset trout=Product |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By crushing the egg in his hand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2009-pg7885-part28:e2:o2:1
# text = By crushing the egg in his hand
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	crushing	crush	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	egg	egg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **crush** | gerund |  | the egg |  | his hand |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent egg=Patient |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By breaking the egg with his foot

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2009-pg7885-part28:e2:o3:1
# text = By breaking the egg with his foot
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	breaking	break	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	egg	egg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break** | gerund |  | the egg |  |  |  | with his foot | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent egg=Patient with foot=Instrument |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By breaking the egg with his foot at the water's edge, while she begged him not to

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2009-pg7885-part28:e2:o4:1
# text = By breaking the egg with his foot at the water's edge, while she begged him not to
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	breaking	break	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	egg	egg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
14	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	fixed	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break** | gerund | she *not said here* | the egg |  | the water's edge |  | with his foot | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent egg=Patient with foot=Instrument |
| 2 | **not** **beg** *speech: request* | past | she |  | him *= he* |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |

<!-- 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 -->

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