---
title: By what means did the rival claimants attempt to substantiate their… — English Fairy Tales, The Little Bull-C… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the rival claimants attempt to substantiate their claims before the king? Exam question 4 of lesson 261 «English Fairy Tales, The Little Bull-Calf: the boy kills the dragon and wins the princess» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics 
---

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# Exam question 4 · English Fairy Tales, The Little Bull-Calf: the boy kills t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the rival claimants attempt to substantiate their claims before the king?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** rival claimants, claimants · **What happens:** mean, do, attempt, substantiate, claim · **To what, where:** claims

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 261 «English Fairy Tales, The Little Bull-Calf: the boy kills the dragon and wins the princess» 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/261-pg14241-part28/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:261-pg14241-part28:e4:1
# text = By what means did the rival claimants attempt to substantiate their claims before the king?
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	7	det	_	_
6	rival	rival	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	claimants	claimant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	attempt	attempt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	substantiate	substantiate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	claims	claim	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
13	before	before	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	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 |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **attempt** | present | the rival claimants |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **substantiate** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the rival claimants *not said here* | claimants's claims |  |  | before the king |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **claim** |  | claimants *= claimant* |  |  |  |  |  | nom claim «communication 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by presenting counterfeit dragon tongues and forged letters of proof

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:261-pg14241-part28:e4:o1:1
# text = by presenting counterfeit dragon tongues and forged letters of proof
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	presenting	present	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
3	counterfeit	counterfeit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	tongues	tongue	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	forged	forge	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	proof	proof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **present** | gerund |  | dragon tongues |  |  |  |  | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tongue=Theme |
| 2 | **forge** | past |  | letters of proof |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent letter=Product |
| 3 | **letter** |  |  | proof |  |  |  |  | nom letter «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by presenting counterfeit dragon tongues

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:261-pg14241-part28:e4:o2:1
# text = by presenting counterfeit dragon tongues
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	presenting	present	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	counterfeit	counterfeit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	tongues	tongue	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **present** | gerund |  | dragon tongues |  |  |  |  | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tongue=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by bringing forged dragon ears

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:261-pg14241-part28:e4:o3:1
# text = by bringing forged dragon ears
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	bringing	bring	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	forged	forge	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
4	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bring** | gerund |  | forged dragon ears |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent ear=Theme |
| 2 | **forge** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by showing forged dragon scales

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:261-pg14241-part28:e4:o4:1
# text = by showing forged dragon scales
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	showing	show	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	forged	forge	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
4	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	scales	scale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | gerund |  | forged dragon scales |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent scale=Recipient |
| 2 | **forge** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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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