---
title: By what means did the grandmother describe the Snow Queen's nightly… — Andersen tales, The Snow Queen, part 1… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what means did the grandmother describe the Snow Queen's nightly movements? Exam question 4 of lesson 978 «Andersen tales, The Snow Queen, part 1: the Snow Man melts, the mirror shatters, Kay and Gerda meet» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of 
---

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# Exam question 4 · Andersen tales, The Snow Queen, part 1: the Snow Man melts…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what means did the grandmother describe the Snow Queen's nightly movements?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, Snow Queen · **What happens:** mean, do, describe, move · **To what, where:** grandmother, nightly movements · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 978 «Andersen tales, The Snow Queen, part 1: the Snow Man melts, the mirror shatters, Kay and Gerda meet» 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/978-pg27200-part189/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:978-pg27200-part189:e4:1
# text = By what means did the grandmother describe the Snow Queen's nightly movements?
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	7	advcl	_	_
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	6	det	_	_
6	grandmother	grandmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	describe	describe	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	Snow	Snow	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	nightly	nightly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	movements	movement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	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 grandmother |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grandmother=Eventuality |
| 3 | **describe** | imperative | you *not said here* | the Snow Queen's nightly movements |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent movement=Theme |
| 4 | **move** |  | the Snow Queen |  |  |  |  |  | nom movement «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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by showing a picture of her in the sky

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:978-pg27200-part189:e4:o1:1
# text = by showing a picture of her in the sky
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	showing	show	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	picture	picture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nmod	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | gerund |  | a picture of her |  |  |  | in the sky | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent picture=Patient in sky=Topic |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by describing her flight through the streets

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:978-pg27200-part189:e4:o2:1
# text = by describing her flight through the streets
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	describing	describe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	flight	flight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	streets	street	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **describe** | gerund |  | her flight |  | the streets |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent flight=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by telling a story about her path

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:978-pg27200-part189:e4:o3:1
# text = by telling a story about her path
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund |  | a story |  |  |  | about her path | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent story=Recipient about path=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
by describing in great detail her flight through the streets at night

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:978-pg27200-part189:e4:o4:1
# text = by describing in great detail her flight through the streets at night
1	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	describing	describe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	detail	detail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	flight	flight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
8	through	through	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	streets	street	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **describe** | gerund |  |  |  | great detail | night | through the streets | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |

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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 tales, The Snow Queen, part 1…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/978-pg27200-part189/e3/)
- next →: [Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/979-pg27200-part190/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Andersen tales, The Snow Queen, part 1: the Snow Man melts, the mirror shatters, Kay and Gerda meet](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/978-pg27200-part189/)