---
title: By what means did the straw effect a passage across the brook? — Grimm, The Straw, the Coal, and the Be… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the straw effect a passage across the brook? Exam question 1 of lesson 730 «Grimm, The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean: three runaways almost die, and a bean ends up with a black seam» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the questi
---

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# Exam question 1 · Grimm, The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean: three runaways a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the straw effect a passage across the brook?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **What happens:** mean, do · **To what, where:** straw effect, brook

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 730 «Grimm, The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean: three runaways almost die, and a bean ends up with a black seam» 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/730-pg2591-part6/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:730-pg2591-part6:e1:1
# text = By what means did the straw effect a passage across the brook?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	straw	straw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	effect	effect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
10	across	across	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	brook	brook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	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 | **do** | past |  | the straw effect |  | the brook |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 bending down into the water to reach the far side

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:730-pg2591-part6:e1:o1:1
# text = By bending down into the water to reach the far side
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	bending	bend	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	down	down	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	far	far	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bend down** | gerund |  |  |  | the water |  | down *property* | vn knead-26.5 «NP.material V PP.product»: agent=Material into water=Product |
| 2 | **reach** | to-infinitive |  | the far side |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent side=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By floating

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:730-pg2591-part6:e1:o2:1
# text = By floating
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	floating	float	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **float** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By being pushed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:730-pg2591-part6:e1:o3:1
# text = By being pushed
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	pushed	push	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **push** | gerund · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP» |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By laying itself straight from one bank to the other

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:730-pg2591-part6:e1:o4:1
# text = By laying itself straight from one bank to the other
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	laying	lay	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	2	obj	_	_
4	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lay** | gerund |  | itself *= it* |  | one bank |  | to the other | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent itself=Result from bank=Material |

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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: [Grimm, The Straw, the Coal, and the Be…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/730-pg2591-part6/t12/)
- next →: [Grimm, The Straw, the Coal, and the Be…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/730-pg2591-part6/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Grimm, The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean: three runaways almost die, and a bean ends up with a black seam](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/730-pg2591-part6/)