---
title: In what manner did the Evil Things seek to destroy the Moon? — English Folk Tales, The Lost Moon: the… · tree and pragmatics
description: In what manner did the Evil Things seek to destroy the Moon? Exam question 3 of lesson 251 «English Folk Tales, The Lost Moon: the Evil Things bury the Moon in the bog, and the marsh folk find her again» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the que
---

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# Exam question 3 · English Folk Tales, The Lost Moon: the Evil Things bury th…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In what manner did the Evil Things seek to destroy the Moon?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Evil Things · **What happens:** do, seek, destroy · **To what, where:** manner, Moon

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 251 «English Folk Tales, The Lost Moon: the Evil Things bury the Moon in the bog, and the marsh folk find her again» 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/251-pg14241-part18/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:251-pg14241-part18:e3:1
# text = In what manner did the Evil Things seek to destroy the Moon?
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	3	det	_	_
3	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
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	7	det	_	_
6	Evil	Evil	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	Things	Thing	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	seek	seek	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	destroy	destroy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  |  |  | what manner |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **seek** | present | the Evil Things |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **destroy** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the Evil Things *not said here* | the Moon |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent moon=Patient |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by drowning her

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:251-pg14241-part18:e3:o1:1
# text = by drowning her
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	drowning	drown	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drown** | gerund |  | her *= she* |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by smothering and poisoning her

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:251-pg14241-part18:e3:o2:1
# text = by smothering and poisoning her
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	smothering	smother	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	poisoning	poison	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
5	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smother** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **poison** | gerund |  | her *= she* |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by drowning and burying her

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:251-pg14241-part18:e3:o3:1
# text = by drowning and burying her
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	drowning	drown	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	burying	bury	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
5	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drown** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **bury** | gerund |  | her *= she* |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by smothering her with cloth and poisoning her cup at the feast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:251-pg14241-part18:e3:o4:1
# text = by smothering her with cloth and poisoning her cup at the feast
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	smothering	smother	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	poisoning	poison	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
8	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	cup	cup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	feast	feast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smother** | gerund |  |  | her *= she* |  |  | with cloth | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent she=Destination with cloth=Theme |
| 2 | **poison** | gerund |  | her cup |  | the feast |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cup=Patient |

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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: [English Folk Tales, The Lost Moon: the…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/251-pg14241-part18/e2/)
- next →: [English Folk Tales, The Lost Moon: the…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/251-pg14241-part18/e4/)
- ↑ back to [English Folk Tales, The Lost Moon: the Evil Things bury the Moon in the bog, and the marsh folk find her again](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/251-pg14241-part18/)