Test 8 · ★ · Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 1: a carp…

Real life: what was the clever idea of the first alphabet-makers, about 3,800 years ago?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: Real life · What happens: be · To what, where: clever idea

This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 87 «Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 1: a carp-fish's mouth, a tail, an egg and a snake» of the books course of Mova's primary school. 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	Real	real	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 life	amod
2	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	:	:	PUNCT	_	8 idea	punct
4	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	8 idea	nsubj
5	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 idea	cop
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 idea	det
7	clever	clever	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 idea	amod
8	idea	idea	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 life	parataxis
9	of	of	ADP	_	14 makers	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 makers	det
11	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	14 makers	amod
12	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 makers	compound
13	-	-	PUNCT	_	12 alphabet	punct
14	makers	maker	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 idea	nmod
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 years	punct
16	about	about	ADV	_	17 3,800	advmod
17	3,800	3,800	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	18 years	nummod
18	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 makers	conj
19	ago	ago	ADV	_	18 years	advmod
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	2 life	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	Real life	the clever idea				of the first alphabet makers and 3,800 years	tree rules

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

Every sign was drawn in a different colour each time

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	2 sign	det
2	sign	sign	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 drawn	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 drawn	aux:pass
4	drawn	draw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	8 colour	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 colour	det
7	different	different	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 colour	amod
8	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 drawn	obl
9	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	10 time	det
10	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 drawn	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	draw	past · passive		every sign		a different colour	time		vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in colour=Destination

Option 2

Each picture was given a sound that matched the animal it showed, so readers could tell which one was meant

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 picture	det
2	picture	picture	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 given	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 given	aux:pass
4	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 sound	det
6	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 given	obj
7	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 matched	nsubj
8	matched	match	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 sound	acl:relcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 animal	det
10	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 matched	obj
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 showed	nsubj
12	showed	show	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 animal	acl:relcl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 tell	punct
14	so	so	ADV	_	17 tell	advmod
15	readers	reader	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 tell	nsubj
16	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	17 tell	aux
17	tell	tell	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 given	parataxis
18	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	19 one	det
19	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 meant	nsubj:pass
20	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	21 meant	aux:pass
21	meant	mean	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	17 tell	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	give	past · passive		each picture	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient sound=Theme
2	match	past	a sound	the animal	vn amalgamate-22.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent animal=Patient
3	show	past	picture	the animal not said here	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent animal=Recipient
4	tell speech: assert	could	readers		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
5	mean	past · passive		which one	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic

Option 3

The pictures were painted on pots of clay

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 pictures	det
2	pictures	picture	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 painted	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 painted	aux:pass
4	painted	paint	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	on	on	ADP	_	6 pots	case
6	pots	pot	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 painted	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 clay	case
8	clay	clay	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 pots	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	paint	past · passive		the pictures		pots of clay			vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme PP.destination»: subject=Theme on pot=Destination

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

Each picture stood only for the first sound of its name

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 picture	det
2	picture	picture	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stood	nsubj
3	stood	stand	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	only	only	ADV	_	8 sound	advmod
5	for	for	ADP	_	8 sound	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sound	det
7	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	8 sound	amod
8	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stood	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 name	case
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 name	nmod:poss
11	name	name	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sound	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	stand	past	each picture					for the first sound of picture's name	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer for sound=Attribute
2	name		picture						nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent

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/87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth/t8/