---
title: By what means did the four men kindle their fire beneath the tree? — Celtic Fairy Tales, Andrew Coffey, par… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the four men kindle their fire beneath the tree? Exam question 4 of lesson 2016 «Celtic Fairy Tales, Andrew Coffey, part 35: Ivan's honesty and the lord's purse, then a haunted cabin and a man in a box» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and prag
---

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# Exam question 4 · Celtic Fairy Tales, Andrew Coffey, part 35: Ivan's honesty…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the four men kindle their fire beneath the tree?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** four men, men · **What happens:** mean, kindle, fire · **To what, where:** fire

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 2016 «Celtic Fairy Tales, Andrew Coffey, part 35: Ivan's honesty and the lord's purse, then a haunted cabin and a man in a box» 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/2016-pg7885-part35/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2016-pg7885-part35:e4:1
# text = By what means did the four men kindle their fire beneath the tree?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	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=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	kindle	kindle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	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 | **kindle** | past · do-support | the four men | men's fire |  |  |  | beneath the tree | vn engender-27.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition fire=Patient |
| 3 | **fire** |  | men *= man* |  |  |  |  |  | nom fire «event 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by tinder and flint struck together

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2016-pg7885-part35:e4:o1:1
# text = by tinder and flint struck together
1	by	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	tinder	tinder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	flint	flint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
5	struck	strike	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
6	together	together	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **strike** | participle |  | tinder and flint *not said here* |  |  |  | together *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by striking a steel bar against a flint stone that the men had brought up the hill

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2016-pg7885-part35:e4:o2:1
# text = by striking a steel bar against a flint stone that the men had brought up the hill
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	striking	strike	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	steel	steel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	bar	bar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	against	against	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	flint	flint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl:relcl	_	_
15	up	up	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **strike** | gerund |  | a steel bar |  |  |  | against a flint stone | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent bar=Instrument against stone=Patient |
| 2 | **bring up** | past · perfect · passive |  | a flint stone |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by a tinderbox and flint struck hard together beside the tree

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2016-pg7885-part35:e4:o3:1
# text = by a tinderbox and flint struck hard together beside the tree
1	by	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	tinderbox	tinderbox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	flint	flint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
6	struck	strike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
8	together	together	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
9	beside	beside	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **strike** | past |  |  |  | the tree |  | by a tinderbox and flint; hard, together *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by tinderbox=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
with a lantern and some dry moss

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2016-pg7885-part35:e4:o4:1
# text = with a lantern and some dry moss
1	with	with	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	lantern	lantern	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
5	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
6	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	moss	moss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

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

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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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- ← previous: [Celtic Fairy Tales, Andrew Coffey, par…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2016-pg7885-part35/e3/)
- next →: [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Battle of the…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2017-pg7885-part36/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Celtic Fairy Tales, Andrew Coffey, part 35: Ivan's honesty and the lord's purse, then a haunted cabin and a man in a box](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2016-pg7885-part35/)