---
title: By what means did the brothers subdue the Snake's wife at the twelve… — Slavonic Myths, Ivan Popyalof, part 16… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the brothers subdue the Snake's wife at the twelve doors? Exam question 2 of lesson 424 «Slavonic Myths, Ivan Popyalof, part 16: Ivan kills three snakes and tricks the Snake's wife» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the questio
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/424-pg22373-part16/e2/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Slavonic Myths, Ivan Popyalof, part 16…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/424-pg22373-part16/) / e2

# Exam question 2 · Slavonic Myths, Ivan Popyalof, part 16: Ivan kills three s…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the brothers subdue the Snake's wife at the twelve doors?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** brothers · **What happens:** mean, do, subdue · **To what, where:** wife, twelve doors

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 424 «Slavonic Myths, Ivan Popyalof, part 16: Ivan kills three snakes and tricks the Snake's wife» 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/424-pg22373-part16/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:424-pg22373-part16:e2:1
# text = By what means did the brothers subdue the Snake's wife at the twelve doors?
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	6	det	_	_
6	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	subdue	subdue	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Snake	Snake	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	twelve	twelve	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	doors	door	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	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 |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 3 | **subdue** | present | the brothers | the Snake's wife |  | the twelve doors |  |  | vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by pinning her down with a heavy chain

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:424-pg22373-part16:e2:o1:1
# text = by pinning her down with a heavy chain
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	pinning	pin	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	down	down	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	chain	chain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pin down** | gerund |  | her *= she* |  |  |  | with a heavy chain | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP PP.co-patient PP.instrument»: agent=Agent she=Patient with chain=Instrument |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by burning her with a hot iron rod

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:424-pg22373-part16:e2:o2:1
# text = by burning her with a hot iron rod
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	burning	burn	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	_	8	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	rod	rod	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burn** | gerund |  | her *= she* |  |  |  | with a hot iron rod | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent she=Patient with rod=Instrument |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by cutting off her tongue with an axe and burning it in the fire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:424-pg22373-part16:e2:o3:1
# text = by cutting off her tongue with an axe and burning it in the fire
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	cutting	cut	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	off	off	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut off** | gerund |  | her tongue |  |  |  | with a axe | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector tongue=Eventuality |
| 2 | **burn** | gerund |  | tongue |  | the fire |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by seizing her tongue with iron pincers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:424-pg22373-part16:e2:o4:1
# text = by seizing her tongue with iron pincers
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	seizing	seize	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	pincers	pincer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seize** | gerund |  | her tongue |  |  |  | with iron pincers | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tongue=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Slavonic Myths, Ivan Popyalof, part 16…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/424-pg22373-part16/e1/)
- next →: [Slavonic Myths, Ivan Popyalof, part 16…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/424-pg22373-part16/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Slavonic Myths, Ivan Popyalof, part 16: Ivan kills three snakes and tricks the Snake's wife](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/424-pg22373-part16/)