---
title: By what means did the king's son secure his release from the giant? — Celtic Fairy Tales, The Son of the Kin… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the king's son secure his release from the giant? Exam question 2 of lesson 2018 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Son of the King of Tethertown, part 37: the giant sets the prince three hard tasks» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the
---

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# Exam question 2 · Celtic Fairy Tales, The Son of the King of Tethertown, par…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the king's son secure his release from the giant?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** son · **What happens:** mean, do, secure · **To what, where:** release

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 2018 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Son of the King of Tethertown, part 37: the giant sets the prince three hard tasks» 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/2018-pg7885-part37/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2018-pg7885-part37:e2:1
# text = By what means did the king's son secure his release from the giant?
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	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	secure	secure	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	release	release	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	giant	giant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	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 | **secure** | past | the king's son | son's release |  |  |  | from the giant | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent release=Theme from giant=Source |

<!-- .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 claiming his father owned a sword

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2018-pg7885-part37:e2:o1:1
# text = by claiming his father owned a sword
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	claiming	claim	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	owned	own	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **claim** *speech: other* | gerund |  | his father |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent father=Topic |
| 2 | **own** | past |  | a sword |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot sword=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by stating that his father possessed a braver rod than the giant

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2018-pg7885-part37:e2:o2:1
# text = by stating that his father possessed a braver rod than the giant
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	stating	state	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	possessed	possess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	braver	brave	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	amod	_	_
9	rod	rod	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **state** *speech: other* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **possess** | past | his father | a braver rod |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot rod=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by offering the giant his own gold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2018-pg7885-part37:e2:o3:1
# text = by offering the giant his own gold
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	offering	offer	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obj	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **offer** | gerund |  | the giant |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: agent=Agent giant=Goal gold=Theme |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by stating that his father possessed a braver rod

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2018-pg7885-part37:e2:o4:1
# text = by stating that his father possessed a braver rod
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	stating	state	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	possessed	possess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	braver	brave	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	amod	_	_
9	rod	rod	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **state** *speech: other* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **possess** | past | his father | a braver rod |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot rod=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, The Son of the Kin…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2018-pg7885-part37/e1/)
- next →: [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Son of the Kin…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2018-pg7885-part37/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Celtic Fairy Tales, The Son of the King of Tethertown, part 37: the giant sets the prince three hard tasks](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2018-pg7885-part37/)