"Jacques a descendu le géant."

Question

I get the transitive meaning of "avoir descendu" in the example above. Therefore the possible option "Jack descended on the giant.", meaning he is sliding down the gian's body, would also be transitive. So why doesn't it work here?  -- Chris.

Answer

I think that the sentence translates to "Jacques has felled or knocked down the géant", rather than sliding down his body
If we were referring to a staircase then I would agree that this context would have the sense of sliding down.
Alan

Answer

But in the test one has to tick all that COULD be correct.  One suggestion is that Jacques descended on the giant.  Surely this is a possibility?  As well as the other correct answers of Jacques felled the giant and Jacques took the giant downstairs?

If it is not a possibility could you please explain why?

Thanks

Answer

I don't understand either. It seems that these two sentences:

J'ai descendu les escaliers.
Jacques a descendu le géant.

Have the exact same structure -- avoir + descendre + an object. How come one can mean "went down the stairs" but the other cannot mean "climbed down the giant" (e.g. on his back or something)?