---
title: By what means did the naiad respond to Ceres's inquiry? — Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seed… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the naiad respond to Ceres's inquiry? Exam question 2 of lesson 2071 «Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds, part 30: Ceres searches all night for her lost daughter» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each 
---

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# Exam question 2 · Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds, part 30: Ceres se…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the naiad respond to Ceres's inquiry?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Ceres · **What happens:** mean, do, inquire · **To what, where:** naiad respond · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 2071 «Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds, part 30: Ceres searches all night for her lost daughter» 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/2071-pg976-part30/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2071-pg976-part30:e2:1
# text = By what means did the naiad respond to Ceres's inquiry?
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	naiad	naiad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	respond	respond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	Ceres	Ceres	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	inquiry	inquiry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	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 clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** | past |  | the naiad respond |  |  |  | to Ceres's inquiry | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent respond=Eventuality |
| 3 | **inquire** |  | Ceres |  |  |  |  |  | nom inquiry «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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By a murmuring answer of "No!"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2071-pg976-part30:e2:o1:1
# text = By a murmuring answer of "No!"
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	murmuring	murmur	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	amod	_	_
4	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **murmur** *speech: other* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By a sudden shout

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2071-pg976-part30:e2:o2:1
# text = By a sudden shout
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	sudden	sudden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	shout	shout	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By a soft sigh and a shrug

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2071-pg976-part30:e2:o3:1
# text = By a soft sigh and a shrug
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	sigh	sigh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	shrug	shrug	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By whispering a faint 'Yes'

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:2071-pg976-part30:e2:o4:1
# text = By whispering a faint 'Yes'
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	whispering	whisper	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	faint	faint	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obj	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | gerund |  | a faint |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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: [Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seed…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2071-pg976-part30/e1/)
- next →: [Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seed…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2071-pg976-part30/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds, part 30: Ceres searches all night for her lost daughter](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/2071-pg976-part30/)