Exam question 4 · Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1:…

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the invention of writing in the real world.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, invent · To what, where: response, invention, writing

This is exam question 4 of lesson 84 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1: a broken spear and a picture on birch-bark» 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.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 invention	det
11	invention	invention	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 writing	case
13	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 invention	nmod
14	in	in	ADP	_	17 world	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 world	det
16	real	real	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 world	amod
17	world	world	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 writing	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the invention of writing in the real world		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus invention=Experiencer
4	invent			writing in the real world		nom invention «cognition transitive»: of=patient

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

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It arose about five thousand years ago, first in Mesopotamia and Egypt

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 arose	nsubj
2	arose	arise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	about	about	ADV	_	5 thousand	advmod
4	five	five	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 thousand	compound
5	thousand	thousand	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 years	nummod
6	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 ago	obl:unmarked
7	ago	ago	ADV	_	2 arose	advmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 first	punct
9	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	2 arose	advmod
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 Mesopotamia	case
11	Mesopotamia	Mesopotamia	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 arose	obl
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 Egypt	cc
13	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 Mesopotamia	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arise	past	It			Mesopotamia and Egypt		ago, first property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in mesopotamia=Location

Option 2

It arose about three thousand years ago, first in China and India

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 arose	nsubj
2	arose	arise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	about	about	ADV	_	5 thousand	advmod
4	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 thousand	compound
5	thousand	thousand	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 years	nummod
6	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 ago	obl:unmarked
7	ago	ago	ADV	_	2 arose	advmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 first	punct
9	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	2 arose	advmod
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 China	case
11	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 arose	obl
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 India	cc
13	India	India	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 China	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arise	past	It			China and India		ago, first property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in china=Location

Option 3

It arose about five thousand years ago, first in Mesopotamia and Egypt, and then spread to every continent

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 arose	nsubj
2	arose	arise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	about	about	ADV	_	5 thousand	advmod
4	five	five	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 thousand	compound
5	thousand	thousand	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 years	nummod
6	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 ago	obl:unmarked
7	ago	ago	ADV	_	2 arose	advmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 first	punct
9	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	2 arose	advmod
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 Mesopotamia	case
11	Mesopotamia	Mesopotamia	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 arose	obl
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 Egypt	cc
13	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 Mesopotamia	conj
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 spread	punct
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 spread	cc
16	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	17 spread	advmod
17	spread	spread	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 arose	conj
18	to	to	ADP	_	20 continent	case
19	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	20 continent	det
20	continent	continent	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 spread	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arise	past	It			Mesopotamia and Egypt		ago, first property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in mesopotamia=Location
2	spread	past					then	to every continent	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

It arose about fifty thousand years ago, first in caves in Europe and later in Mesopotamia and Egypt

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 arose	nsubj
2	arose	arise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	about	about	ADV	_	5 thousand	advmod
4	fifty	fifty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 thousand	compound
5	thousand	thousand	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 years	nummod
6	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 ago	obl:unmarked
7	ago	ago	ADV	_	2 arose	advmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 caves	punct
9	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	11 caves	advmod
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 caves	case
11	caves	cave	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 arose	obl
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 Europe	case
13	Europe	Europe	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 caves	nmod
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 Mesopotamia	cc
15	later	late	ADV	Degree=Cmp	17 Mesopotamia	advmod
16	in	in	ADP	_	17 Mesopotamia	case
17	Mesopotamia	Mesopotamia	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 Europe	conj
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 Egypt	cc
19	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 Europe	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arise	past	It			caves in Europe and Mesopotamia and Egypt		ago property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cave=Location

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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/e4/