---
title: Identify the agent through whose action the stepmother and stepsiste… — Russian Folk-Tales, Vasilissa the Beau… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the agent through whose action the stepmother and stepsisters perished, according to the narrative. Exam question 2 of lesson 443 «Russian Folk-Tales, Vasilissa the Beautiful: the skull burns the stepmother, and Vasilissa becomes the king's wife» of the books course of Mova's primary school
---

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# Exam question 2 · Russian Folk-Tales, Vasilissa the Beautiful: the skull bur…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the agent through whose action the stepmother and stepsisters perished, according to the narrative.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, stepmother · **What happens:** identify, perish, accord · **To what, where:** agent, action, narrative

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 443 «Russian Folk-Tales, Vasilissa the Beautiful: the skull burns the stepmother, and Vasilissa becomes the king'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/443-pg22373-part35/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:443-pg22373-part35:e2:1
# text = Identify the agent through whose action the stepmother and stepsisters perished, according to the narrative.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	agent	agent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	through	through	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	stepmother	stepmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	stepsisters	stepsister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	_
11	perished	perish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	according	accord	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	advcl	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	narrative	narrative	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the agent |  | action |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent agent=Theme |
| 2 | **perish** | past | the stepmother and stepsisters | action *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **accord** | gerund | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the narrative *goal* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to narrative=Goal |

<!-- .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 -->
The skull with blazing eyes that came from the Baba Yaga's yard

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:443-pg22373-part35:e2:o1:1
# text = The skull with blazing eyes that came from the Baba Yaga's yard
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	skull	skull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	blazing	blaze	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	Baba	Baba	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	Yaga	Yaga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	yard	yard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blaze** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **come** | past | the skull with blazing eyes |  |  |  |  | from the Baba Yaga's yard | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from yard=Initial\_Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The skull with blazing eyes, carried home by the bold heroine herself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:443-pg22373-part35:e2:o2:1
# text = The skull with blazing eyes, carried home by the bold heroine herself
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	skull	skull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	blazing	blaze	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	carried	carry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	home	home	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	bold	bold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	heroine	heroine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
13	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blaze** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **carry** | participle · passive | the bold heroine | the skull with blazing eyes |  |  |  | herself *= she* *obl*; home *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The skull with blazing eyes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:443-pg22373-part35:e2:o3:1
# text = The skull with blazing eyes
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	skull	skull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	blazing	blaze	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blaze** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The stepmother's own hands

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:443-pg22373-part35:e2:o4:1
# text = The stepmother's own hands
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	stepmother	stepmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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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