Exam question 4 · Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3:…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the arrival of writing in Britain?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: writing · What happens: follow, characteris, arrive · To what, where: arrival

This is exam question 4 of lesson 86 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3: «a great invention» and the road on Merrow Down» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 arrival	det
10	arrival	arrival	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 writing	case
12	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 arrival	nmod
13	in	in	ADP	_	14 Britain	case
14	Britain	Britain	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 writing	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the arrival of writing in Britain	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	arrive		writing in Britain			nom arrival «act intransitive»: of=agent

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

It was invented in Surrey during the Stone Age

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	3 invented	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 invented	aux:pass
3	invented	invent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 Surrey	case
5	Surrey	Surrey	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 invented	obl
6	during	during	ADP	_	9 Age	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Age	det
8	Stone	Stone	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 Age	compound
9	Age	Age	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 invented	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	invent	past · passive		It		Surrey	during the Stone Age		vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result

Option 2

It arrived in the present century, by means of the telephone

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 arrived	nsubj
2	arrived	arrive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	6 century	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 century	det
5	present	present	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 century	amod
6	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 arrived	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 means	punct
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 means	case
9	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 arrived	parataxis
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 telephone	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 telephone	det
12	telephone	telephone	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 means	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arrive	past	It				century		vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	mean	present						of the telephone	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

Option 3

It has never arrived

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	4 arrived	nsubj:pass
2	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 arrived	aux
3	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	4 arrived	advmod
4	arrived	arrive	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not arrive	present · perfect · passive		It					tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It arrived with the Romans, approximately two thousand years ago

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 arrived	nsubj
2	arrived	arrive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	with	with	ADP	_	5 Romans	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Romans	det
5	Romans	Roman	PROPN	Number=Plur	2 arrived	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 years	punct
7	approximately	approximately	ADV	_	9 thousand	advmod
8	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 thousand	compound
9	thousand	thousand	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 years	nummod
10	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 arrived	obl:unmarked
11	ago	ago	ADV	_	10 years	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arrive	past	It				year	with the Romans	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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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