---
title: By what means did the maiden come into possession of the yarn? — Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales, Habetro… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the maiden come into possession of the yarn? Exam question 1 of lesson 262 «Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales, Habetrot: a magic yarn wins a laird's bride, and he forbids her the spinning-wheel» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of th
---

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# Exam question 1 · Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales, Habetrot: a magic yarn wins…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the maiden come into possession of the yarn?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** mean, do, come, possess · **To what, where:** maiden, possession, yarn · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 262 «Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales, Habetrot: a magic yarn wins a laird's bride, and he forbids her the spinning-wheel» 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/262-pg14241-part29/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:262-pg14241-part29:e1:1
# text = By what means did the maiden come into possession of the yarn?
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	7	advcl	_	_
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	6	det	_	_
6	maiden	maiden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	into	into	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	possession	possession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	yarn	yarn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	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 maiden |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent maiden=Eventuality |
| 3 | **come** | present |  |  |  | possession of the yarn |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into possession=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **possess** |  |  | the yarn |  |  |  |  | nom possession «act transitive»: of=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was spun by Habetrot and given to her

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:262-pg14241-part29:e1:o1:1
# text = It was spun by Habetrot and given to her
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	spun	spin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Habetrot	Habetrot	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spin** | past · passive | Habetrot | It |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 2 | **give** | participle | Habetrot *not said here* |  | Habetrot |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to she=Recipient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The laird gave it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:262-pg14241-part29:e1:o2:1
# text = The laird gave it
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	laird	laird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | the laird | it |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was spun by her mother and given to the laird's wife

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:262-pg14241-part29:e1:o3:1
# text = It was spun by her mother and given to the laird's wife
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	spun	spin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	laird	laird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spin** | past · passive | her mother | It |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 2 | **give** | participle | her mother *not said here* |  | the laird's wife |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to wife=Recipient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She bought it at the market

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:262-pg14241-part29:e1:o4:1
# text = She bought it at the market
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	bought	buy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	market	market	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | past | She | it |  | the market |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent it=Theme at market=Asset |

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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: [Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales, Habetro…, test 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/262-pg14241-part29/t14/)
- next →: [Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales, Habetro…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/262-pg14241-part29/e2/)
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