---
title: Describe the means by which the Dryad descended beneath the city. — Andersen's Tales, The Dryad, part 28:… · tree and pragmatics
description: Describe the means by which the Dryad descended beneath the city. Exam question 3 of lesson 817 «Andersen's Tales, The Dryad, part 28: the Dryad follows strangers down into the Paris sewers» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of 
---

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# Exam question 3 · Andersen's Tales, The Dryad, part 28: the Dryad follows st…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Describe the means by which the Dryad descended beneath the city.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, the, Dryad · **What happens:** describe, mean, descend · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 817 «Andersen's Tales, The Dryad, part 28: the Dryad follows strangers down into the Paris sewers» 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/817-pg27200-part28/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:817-pg27200-part28:e3:1
# text = Describe the means by which the Dryad descended beneath the city.
1	Describe	describe	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	nsubj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	obl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Dryad	Dryad	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	descended	descend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
9	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **describe** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **mean** | present | the |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **descend** | past | the Dryad |  |  |  |  | beneath the city | vn meander-47.7-1 «NP 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By a broad spiral staircase of cast iron that led far beneath the city's streets

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:817-pg27200-part28:e3:o1:1
# text = By a broad spiral staircase of cast iron that led far beneath the city's streets
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	broad	broad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	spiral	spiral	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	staircase	staircase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	cast	cast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	led	lead	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	10	advmod	_	_
12	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	's	's	PART	POS	_	14	case	_	_
16	streets	street	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lead** | past | cast iron |  |  | the city's streets |  | far *property* | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent beneath street=Destination |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Through a narrow tunnel of brick

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:817-pg27200-part28:e3:o2:1
# text = Through a narrow tunnel of brick
1	Through	through	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	narrow	narrow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	tunnel	tunnel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	brick	brick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By a spiral staircase of cast iron

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:817-pg27200-part28:e3:o3:1
# text = By a spiral staircase of cast iron
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	spiral	spiral	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	staircase	staircase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	cast	cast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By sliding down a long wet chute that opened under the old fountain in the square

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:817-pg27200-part28:e3:o4:1
# text = By sliding down a long wet chute that opened under the old fountain in the square
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	sliding	slide	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	down	down	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	wet	wet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	chute	chute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	under	under	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	fountain	fountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	square	square	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **slide down** | gerund |  | a long wet chute |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chute=Agent |
| 2 | **open** | past | a long wet chute |  |  | the old fountain |  | in the square | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme under fountain=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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- ← previous: [Andersen's Tales, The Dryad, part 28:…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/817-pg27200-part28/e2/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, The Dryad, part 28:…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/817-pg27200-part28/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Tales, The Dryad, part 28: the Dryad follows strangers down into the Paris sewers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/817-pg27200-part28/)