---
title: By what means did the nobleman's conduct, as recounted by the tutor,… — Andersen's Tales, Everything in Its Ri… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the nobleman's conduct, as recounted by the tutor, express a virtue? Exam question 3 of lesson 959 «Andersen's Tales, Everything in Its Right Place, part 170: the old willow, the flute and the proud party» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and p
---

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# Exam question 3 · Andersen's Tales, Everything in Its Right Place, part 170:…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the nobleman's conduct, as recounted by the tutor, express a virtue?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** nobleman · **What happens:** mean, do, recount, express, conduct · **To what, where:** conduct, virtue

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 959 «Andersen's Tales, Everything in Its Right Place, part 170: the old willow, the flute and the proud party» 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/959-pg27200-part170/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:959-pg27200-part170:e3:1
# text = By what means did the nobleman's conduct, as recounted by the tutor, express a virtue?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	nobleman	nobleman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	conduct	conduct	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	recounted	recount	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
12	by	by	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	tutor	tutor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	express	express	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	virtue	virtue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	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 | **do** | past |  | the nobleman's conduct |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **recount** *speech: other* | participle |  |  |  |  |  | by the tutor | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **express** | infinitive |  | a virtue |  |  |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent virtue=Theme |
| 5 | **conduct** |  | the nobleman |  |  |  |  |  | nom conduct «act 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 -->
By sending a servant instead

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:959-pg27200-part170:e3:o1:1
# text = By sending a servant instead
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	sending	send	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	instead	instead	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | gerund |  | a servant |  |  |  | instead *property* | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent servant=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By inviting her to dine

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:959-pg27200-part170:e3:o2:1
# text = By inviting her to dine
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	inviting	invite	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	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	dine	dine	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invite** | gerund |  | her *= she* |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **dine** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | her *= she* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn dine-39.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By sparing an old woman the troublesome walk

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:959-pg27200-part170:e3:o3:1
# text = By sparing an old woman the troublesome walk
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	sparing	spare	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	troublesome	troublesome	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	walk	walk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spare** | gerund |  |  | a old woman |  |  |  | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent woman=Recipient walk=Asset |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By sparing an old woman the troublesome walk up the long stairs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:959-pg27200-part170:e3:o4:1
# text = By sparing an old woman the troublesome walk up the long stairs
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	sparing	spare	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	nsubj	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	troublesome	troublesome	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
8	walk	walk	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	up	up	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	stairs	stair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spare** | gerund |  | a old woman |  |  |  |  | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent woman=Asset |
| 2 | **walk up** | present |  | the long stairs |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=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: [Andersen's Tales, Everything in Its Ri…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/959-pg27200-part170/e2/)
- next →: [Andersen's Tales, Everything in Its Ri…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/959-pg27200-part170/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen's Tales, Everything in Its Right Place, part 170: the old willow, the flute and the proud party](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/959-pg27200-part170/)