---
title: By what means did the clerk's transformation commence? — Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fort… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the clerk's transformation commence? Exam question 3 of lesson 841 «Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fortune, part 52: the clerk, now a lark, is bought and placed in a lady's cage» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the questio
---

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# Exam question 3 · Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fortune, part 52: the cl…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the clerk's transformation commence?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** transformation, clerk · **What happens:** mean, commence, transform

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 841 «Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fortune, part 52: the clerk, now a lark, is bought and placed in a lady's cage» 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/841-pg27200-part52/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:841-pg27200-part52:e3:1
# text = By what means did the clerk's transformation commence?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	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	9	aux	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	clerk	clerk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	transformation	transformation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	commence	commence	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	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 | **commence** | past · do-support | the clerk's transformation |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **transform** |  | the clerk |  |  |  |  |  | nom transformation «event transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 -->
a sudden storm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:841-pg27200-part52:e3:o1:1
# text = a sudden storm
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	sudden	sudden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
his wish to be a lark

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:841-pg27200-part52:e3:o2:1
# text = his wish to be a lark
1	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	wish	wish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	lark	lark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | to-infinitive |  | a lark |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **wish** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom wish «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
his strong desire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:841-pg27200-part52:e3:o3:1
# text = his strong desire
1	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	desire	desire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **desire** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom desire «feeling transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
the wish he made to the daisy in the garden

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:841-pg27200-part52:e3:o4:1
# text = the wish he made to the daisy in the garden
1	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	wish	wish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	daisy	daisy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | the wish |  |  | the garden |  | to the daisy | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |

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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 Goloshes of Fort…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/841-pg27200-part52/e2/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fort…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/841-pg27200-part52/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Tales, The Goloshes of Fortune, part 52: the clerk, now a lark, is bought and placed in a lady's cage](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/841-pg27200-part52/)