---
title: By what means did the mermaid keep the prince's head above the waves? — Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the mermaid keep the prince's head above the waves? Exam question 3 of lesson 877 «Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid saves the drowning prince from the storm» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question a
---

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# Exam question 3 · Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid save…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the mermaid keep the prince's head above the waves?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** mermaid · **What happens:** mean, keep · **To what, where:** head, waves · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 877 «Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid saves the drowning prince from the storm» 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/877-pg27200-part88/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:e3:1
# text = By what means did the mermaid keep the prince's head above the waves?
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	0	root	_	_
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	mermaid	mermaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
12	above	above	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	waves	wave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	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 clause=Topic |
| 2 | **keep** | past · do-support | the mermaid | the prince's head |  | the waves |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent head=Theme above wave=Location |

<!-- .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 tying it to a floating log

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:e3:o1:1
# text = By tying it to a floating log
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	tying	tie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	floating	float	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	amod	_	_
7	log	log	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tie** | gerund |  | it |  |  |  | to a floating log | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient to log=Co-Patient |
| 2 | **float** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By lifting it on a wave

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:e3:o2:1
# text = By lifting it on a wave
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	lifting	lift	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	wave	wave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lift** | gerund |  | it |  | a wave |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme on wave=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By wrapping it in seaweed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:e3:o3:1
# text = By wrapping it in seaweed
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	wrapping	wrap	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	seaweed	seaweed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wrap** | gerund |  | it |  | seaweed |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme in seaweed=Destination |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By holding it with her own hands

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:e3:o4:1
# text = By holding it with her own hands
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | gerund |  | it |  |  |  | with her own hands | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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.

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- ← previous: [Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/877-pg27200-part88/e2/)
- next →: [Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/877-pg27200-part88/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid saves the drowning prince from the storm](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/877-pg27200-part88/)