---
title: By what means did the shepherd evade the sentence of death imposed u… — Russian Tales, The Staring-Eyed Shephe… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the shepherd evade the sentence of death imposed upon him? Exam question 1 of lesson 666 «Russian Tales, The Staring-Eyed Shepherd: the king's toast and the wedding feast» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of e
---

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# Exam question 1 · Russian Tales, The Staring-Eyed Shepherd: the king's toast…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the shepherd evade the sentence of death imposed upon him?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** shepherd · **What happens:** mean, evade, impose, sentence · **To what, where:** sentence, death

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 666 «Russian Tales, The Staring-Eyed Shepherd: the king's toast and the wedding feast» 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/666-pg2435-part6/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:666-pg2435-part6:e1:1
# text = By what means did the shepherd evade the sentence of death imposed upon him?
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
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	shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	evade	evade	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	imposed	impose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl	_	_
13	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	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 | **evade** | past · do-support | the shepherd | the sentence of death |  |  |  |  | vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent sentence=Location |
| 3 | **impose** | participle |  | the sentence of death *not said here* |  |  |  | upon shepherd | vn enforce-63 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **sentence** |  |  | death |  |  |  |  | nom sentence «communication 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by concealing himself in a dark corner until the guards had gone home

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:666-pg2435-part6:e1:o1:1
# text = by concealing himself in a dark corner until the guards had gone home
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	concealing	conceal	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	2	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	guards	guard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
13	home	home	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **conceal** | gerund |  | himself *= he* |  | a dark corner |  |  | vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent himself=Patient in corner=Location |
| 2 | **go** | past · perfect | the guards |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by escaping through the well

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:666-pg2435-part6:e1:o2:1
# text = by escaping through the well
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	escaping	escape	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	through	through	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	well	well	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **escape** | gerund |  |  |  | the well |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme through well=Initial\_Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by concealing himself in a dark corner of the courtyard, unseen

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:666-pg2435-part6:e1:o3:1
# text = by concealing himself in a dark corner of the courtyard, unseen
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	concealing	conceal	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
3	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	2	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	courtyard	courtyard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
12	unseen	unseen	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by concealing himself in a dark corner

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:666-pg2435-part6:e1:o4:1
# text = by concealing himself in a dark corner
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	concealing	conceal	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	2	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

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

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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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