---
title: By what means did the shirt collar attempt to secure a matrimonial a… — Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shirt Coll… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the shirt collar attempt to secure a matrimonial alliance? Exam question 1 of lesson 976 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shirt Collar: a boastful collar loses every bride and ends as paper» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the qu
---

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# Exam question 1 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shirt Collar: a boastful colla…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the shirt collar attempt to secure a matrimonial alliance?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** mean, do, secure · **To what, where:** collar attempt, matrimonial alliance · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 976 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shirt Collar: a boastful collar loses every bride and ends as paper» 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/976-pg27200-part187/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:976-pg27200-part187:e1:1
# text = By what means did the shirt collar attempt to secure a matrimonial alliance?
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	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	shirt	shirt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	collar	collar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	attempt	attempt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	secure	secure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	matrimonial	matrimonial	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	alliance	alliance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	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 collar attempt |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent attempt=Eventuality |
| 3 | **secure** | to-infinitive |  | a matrimonial alliance |  |  |  |  | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition alliance=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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By offering a proposal to the flat-iron

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:976-pg27200-part187:e1:o1:1
# text = By offering a proposal to the flat-iron
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	offering	offer	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	proposal	proposal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	flat	flat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **offer** | gerund |  | a proposal |  |  |  | to the flat iron *goal* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent proposal=Theme to iron=Goal |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By begging the garter to wed him

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:976-pg27200-part187:e1:o2:1
# text = By begging the garter to wed him
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	begging	beg	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	garter	garter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	wed	wed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **beg** *speech: request* | gerund |  | the garter |  |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent garter=Recipient |
| 2 | **wed** | to-infinitive |  | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By writing a grand letter to the scissors

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:976-pg27200-part187:e1:o3:1
# text = By writing a grand letter to the scissors
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	writing	write	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	grand	grand	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	scissors	scissors	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | gerund |  | a grand letter | the scissors |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent letter=Topic to scissors=Recipient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By buying her a gift

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:976-pg27200-part187:e1:o4:1
# text = By buying her a gift
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	buying	buy	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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	gift	gift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | gerund |  | a gift | her *= she* |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent she=Beneficiary gift=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 Fairy Tales, The Shirt Coll…, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/976-pg27200-part187/t13/)
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