---
title: By what means did Gretel bring about the destruction of the witch? — Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did Gretel bring about the destruction of the witch? Exam question 2 of lesson 744 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel: the witch is burnt and the children go home rich» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of eac
---

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# Exam question 2 · Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel: the witch is burnt…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did Gretel bring about the destruction of the witch?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Gretel · **What happens:** mean, bring, destroy · **To what, where:** witch

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 744 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel: the witch is burnt and the children go home rich» 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/744-pg2591-part20/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:744-pg2591-part20:e2:1
# text = By what means did Gretel bring about the destruction of the witch?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	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	6	aux	_	_
5	Gretel	Gretel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	destruction	destruction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	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 | **bring** | past · do-support | Gretel |  |  |  |  | about the destruction of the witch | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **destroy** |  |  | the witch |  |  |  |  | nom destruction «act 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By thrusting the witch into the oven and shutting the door tight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:744-pg2591-part20:e2:o1:1
# text = By thrusting the witch into the oven and shutting the door tight
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	thrusting	thrust	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	oven	oven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	shutting	shut	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	tight	tight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **thrust** | gerund |  | the witch |  | the oven |  |  | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent witch=Theme |
| 2 | **shut** | gerund |  | the door |  |  |  | tight *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent door=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By shoving her in the fire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:744-pg2591-part20:e2:o2:1
# text = By shoving her in the fire
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	shoving	shove	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shove** | gerund |  | her *= she* |  | the fire |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent she=Theme in fire=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By locking her in the oven

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:744-pg2591-part20:e2:o3:1
# text = By locking her in the oven
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	locking	lock	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	oven	oven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lock** | gerund |  | her *= she* |  | the oven |  |  | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By thrusting her into the oven

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:744-pg2591-part20:e2:o4:1
# text = By thrusting her into the oven
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	thrusting	thrust	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	oven	oven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **thrust** | gerund |  | her *= she* |  | the oven |  |  | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/744-pg2591-part20/e1/)
- next →: [Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/744-pg2591-part20/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel: the witch is burnt and the children go home rich](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/744-pg2591-part20/)