---
title: By which means did the small fishes effect the separation of the lea… — Andersen's Fairy Tales, Thumbelina, pa… · tree and pragmatics
description: By which means did the small fishes effect the separation of the leaf from its moorings? Exam question 1 of lesson 882 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, Thumbelina, part 93: Tiny escapes the toads, is carried off, and freezes in winter» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree a
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/882-pg27200-part93/e1/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Andersen's Fairy Tales, Thumbelina, pa…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/882-pg27200-part93/) / e1

# Exam question 1 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, Thumbelina, part 93: Tiny escapes…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By which means did the small fishes effect the separation of the leaf from its moorings?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** leaf · **What happens:** mean, do, separate · **To what, where:** fishes effect · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 882 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, Thumbelina, part 93: Tiny escapes the toads, is carried off, and freezes in winter» 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/882-pg27200-part93/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:882-pg27200-part93:e1:1
# text = By which means did the small fishes effect the separation of the leaf from its moorings?
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	fishes	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	compound	_	_
8	effect	effect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	separation	separation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	from	from	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	moorings	mooring	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	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 | **do** | past |  | the fishes effect |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent effect=Eventuality |
| 3 | **separate** |  | the leaf from leaf's moorings |  |  |  |  |  | nom separation «state intransitive»: of=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By biting the leaf

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:882-pg27200-part93:e1:o1:1
# text = By biting the leaf
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	biting	bite	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bite** | gerund |  | the leaf |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leaf=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By gnawing the stalk at its root

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:882-pg27200-part93:e1:o2:1
# text = By gnawing the stalk at its root
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	gnawing	gnaw	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	stalk	stalk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	root	root	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **gnaw** | gerund |  | the stalk |  | stalk's root |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stalk=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By pulling it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:882-pg27200-part93:e1:o3:1
# text = By pulling it
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	pulling	pull	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	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull** | gerund |  | it |  |  |  |  | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By wind blowing hard on the stem

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:882-pg27200-part93:e1:o4:1
# text = By wind blowing hard on the stem
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	blowing	blow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	stem	stem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blow** | gerund | wind *not said here* |  |  | the stem |  | hard *property* | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, Thumbelina, pa…, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/882-pg27200-part93/t13/)
- next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, Thumbelina, pa…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/882-pg27200-part93/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Fairy Tales, Thumbelina, part 93: Tiny escapes the toads, is carried off, and freezes in winter](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/882-pg27200-part93/)