---
title: By what means did the mother ensure the destruction of Osip? — Russian Tales, The Water Snake: a girl… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the mother ensure the destruction of Osip? Exam question 2 of lesson 434 «Russian Tales, The Water Snake: a girl promises to marry a snake, and her mother kills him» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each op
---

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# Exam question 2 · Russian Tales, The Water Snake: a girl promises to marry a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the mother ensure the destruction of Osip?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** mother · **What happens:** mean, ensure, destroy · **To what, where:** destruction, Osip

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 434 «Russian Tales, The Water Snake: a girl promises to marry a snake, and her mother kills him» 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/434-pg22373-part26/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:434-pg22373-part26:e2:1
# text = By what means did the mother ensure the destruction of Osip?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	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	7	aux	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	ensure	ensure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	destruction	destruction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Osip	Osip	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	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 |
| 2 | **ensure** | past · do-support | the mother | the destruction of Osip |  |  |  |  | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition destruction=Theme |
| 3 | **destroy** |  |  | Osip |  |  |  |  | nom destruction «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 -->
By severing his head with an axe

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:434-pg22373-part26:e2:o1:1
# text = By severing his head with an axe
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	severing	sever	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sever** | gerund |  | his head |  |  |  | with a axe | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By striking him with a stone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:434-pg22373-part26:e2:o2:1
# text = By striking him with a stone
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	striking	strike	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **strike** | gerund |  | him *= he* |  |  |  | with a stone | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent he=Patient with stone=Instrument |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By drowning him

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:434-pg22373-part26:e2:o3:1
# text = By drowning him
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	drowning	drown	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|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 |  | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By burning him with fire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:434-pg22373-part26:e2:o4:1
# text = By burning him with fire
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

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

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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: [Russian Tales, The Water Snake: a girl…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/434-pg22373-part26/e1/)
- next →: [Russian Tales, The Water Snake: a girl…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/434-pg22373-part26/e3/)
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