---
title: By what means did Perseus avoid the petrifying gaze of Medusa? — Gods and Heroes, Perseus, part 41: Per… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did Perseus avoid the petrifying gaze of Medusa? Exam question 2 of lesson 535 «Gods and Heroes, Perseus, part 41: Perseus turns foes to stone and wins Andromeda» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; M
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/535-pg22381-part41/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/) / [Gods and Heroes, Perseus, part 41: Per…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/535-pg22381-part41/) / e2

# Exam question 2 · Gods and Heroes, Perseus, part 41: Perseus turns foes to s…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did Perseus avoid the petrifying gaze of Medusa?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Perseus, Medusa · **What happens:** mean, avoid, petrify, gaze · **To what, where:** petrifying gaze

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 535 «Gods and Heroes, Perseus, part 41: Perseus turns foes to stone and wins Andromeda» 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/535-pg22381-part41/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:535-pg22381-part41:e2:1
# text = By what means did Perseus avoid the petrifying gaze of Medusa?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	obj	_	_
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	Perseus	Perseus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	avoid	avoid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	petrifying	petrify	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	amod	_	_
9	gaze	gaze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Medusa	Medusa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	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 | **avoid** | past · do-support | Perseus | the petrifying gaze of Medusa |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **petrify** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **gaze** |  | Medusa |  |  |  |  |  | nom gaze «act intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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 hiding in a dark cave

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:535-pg22381-part41:e2:o1:1
# text = by hiding in a dark cave
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	hiding	hide	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | gerund |  |  |  | a dark cave |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in cave=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by closing his eyes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:535-pg22381-part41:e2:o2:1
# text = by closing his eyes
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	closing	close	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	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **close** | gerund |  | his eyes |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eye=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by viewing her reflection in his shield

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:535-pg22381-part41:e2:o3:1
# text = by viewing her reflection in his shield
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	viewing	view	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	reflection	reflection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	shield	shield	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **view** | gerund |  | her reflection |  | his shield |  |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer reflection=Stimulus |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by seeing her image in his sword

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:535-pg22381-part41:e2:o4:1
# text = by seeing her image in his sword
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	seeing	see	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	image	image	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | gerund |  | her image |  | his sword |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer image=Stimulus |
| 2 | **image** |  | her *= she* |  |  |  |  |  | nom image «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- 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: [Gods and Heroes, Perseus, part 41: Per…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/535-pg22381-part41/e1/)
- next →: [Gods and Heroes, Perseus, part 41: Per…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/535-pg22381-part41/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Gods and Heroes, Perseus, part 41: Perseus turns foes to stone and wins Andromeda](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/535-pg22381-part41/)