---
title: By what means did the island come to spin? — Nine Unlikely Tales, The Dragon of Rot… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the island come to spin? Exam question 2 of lesson 639 «Nine Unlikely Tales, The Dragon of Rotundia: the dragon is wound up on the pillar, the island spins, and everyone changes size» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the quest
---

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# Exam question 2 · Nine Unlikely Tales, The Dragon of Rotundia: the dragon is…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the island come to spin?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** island · **What happens:** mean, come, spin

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 639 «Nine Unlikely Tales, The Dragon of Rotundia: the dragon is wound up on the pillar, the island spins, and everyone changes size» 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/639-pg23661-part7/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:639-pg23661-part7:e2:1
# text = By what means did the island come to spin?
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	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	spin	spin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	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 | **come** | past · do-support | the island |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **spin** | to-infinitive | the island *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the dragon's pulling of its tail

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:639-pg23661-part7:e2:o1:1
# text = the dragon's pulling of its tail
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	pulling	pulling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull** |  | the dragon | pulling's tail |  |  |  |  | nom pulling «act transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by tying the rope to a boat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:639-pg23661-part7:e2:o2:1
# text = by tying the rope to a boat
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	tying	tie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tie** | gerund |  | the rope |  |  |  | to a boat | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent rope=Patient to boat=Co-Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by the boy's loud singing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:639-pg23661-part7:e2:o3:1
# text = by the boy's loud singing
1	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	loud	loud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	singing	singing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** |  | the boy |  |  |  |  |  | nom singing «act transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by the tide

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:639-pg23661-part7:e2:o4:1
# text = by the tide
1	by	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	tide	tide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	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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- ← previous: [Nine Unlikely Tales, The Dragon of Rot…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/639-pg23661-part7/e1/)
- next →: [Nine Unlikely Tales, The Dragon of Rot…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/639-pg23661-part7/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Nine Unlikely Tales, The Dragon of Rotundia: the dragon is wound up on the pillar, the island spins, and everyone changes size](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/639-pg23661-part7/)