---
title: By what means did Wilhelm secure the custody of the child Mignon? — Famous Tales, Picciola, part 21: Charn… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did Wilhelm secure the custody of the child Mignon? Exam question 3 of lesson 361 «Famous Tales, Picciola, part 21: Charney's plant is saved, and Mignon dances» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mov
---

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# Exam question 3 · Famous Tales, Picciola, part 21: Charney's plant is saved,…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did Wilhelm secure the custody of the child Mignon?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Wilhelm · **What happens:** mean, secure · **To what, where:** custody

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 361 «Famous Tales, Picciola, part 21: Charney's plant is saved, and Mignon dances» 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/361-pg18442-part21/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:361-pg18442-part21:e3:1
# text = By what means did Wilhelm secure the custody of the child Mignon?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	obl	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	Wilhelm	Wilhelm	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	secure	secure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	custody	custody	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	Mignon	Mignon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	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 | **secure** | past · do-support | Wilhelm | the custody of the child |  |  |  |  | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition custody=Theme |

<!-- .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 paying the rope-dancer's price and signing a contract for her

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:361-pg18442-part21:e3:o1:1
# text = by paying the rope-dancer's price and signing a contract for her
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	paying	pay	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	dancer	dancer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	price	price	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	signing	sign	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	contract	contract	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pay** | gerund |  | the rope dancer's price |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent price=Asset |
| 2 | **sign** | gerund |  | a contract |  |  |  | for her *= she* | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent contract=Destination |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
through a letter to the emperor

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:361-pg18442-part21:e3:o2:1
# text = through a letter to the emperor
1	through	through	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	emperor	emperor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by paying the rope-dancer's price

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:361-pg18442-part21:e3:o3:1
# text = by paying the rope-dancer's price
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	paying	pay	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	dancer	dancer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	price	price	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pay** | gerund |  | the rope dancer's price |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent price=Asset |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by paying the rope-dancer's full price and taking her home to his inn

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:361-pg18442-part21:e3:o4:1
# text = by paying the rope-dancer's full price and taking her home to his inn
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	paying	pay	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	dancer	dancer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	price	price	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
12	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	inn	inn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pay** | gerund |  | the rope dancer's full price |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent price=Asset |
| 2 | **take** | gerund |  | her home |  | his inn |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent home=Theme to inn=Destination |

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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: [Famous Tales, Picciola, part 21: Charn…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/361-pg18442-part21/e2/)
- next →: [Famous Tales, Picciola, part 21: Charn…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/361-pg18442-part21/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Famous Tales, Picciola, part 21: Charney's plant is saved, and Mignon dances](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/361-pg18442-part21/)