Exam question 4 · Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 2: yo, so…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the advantage of an alphabet over picture-writing?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: advantage

This is exam question 4 of lesson 88 «Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 2: yo, so, sho, shi, and shu-ya, the sky-water» 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 advantage	det
10	advantage	advantage	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 alphabet	case
12	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 alphabet	det
13	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 advantage	nmod
14	over	over	ADP	_	17 writing	case
15	picture	picture	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 writing	compound
16	-	-	PUNCT	_	15 picture	punct
17	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 alphabet	nmod
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the advantage of a alphabet over picture writing				of the following statements; accurately property	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 · ← Mova's choice

Pictures show the thing more clearly and fully

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Pictures	picture	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 show	nsubj
2	show	show	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 thing	det
4	thing	thing	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 show	obj
5	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	6 clearly	advmod
6	clearly	clearly	ADV	_	2 show	advmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 fully	cc
8	fully	fully	ADV	_	6 clearly	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	show	present	Pictures	the thing				clearly property	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent thing=Recipient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

A small number of sound-signs suffices to write any word whatsoever

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 number	det
2	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 number	amod
3	number	number	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 suffices	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 signs	case
5	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 signs	compound
6	-	-	PUNCT	_	5 sound	punct
7	signs	sign	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 number	nmod
8	suffices	suffice	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	to	to	PART	_	10 write	mark
10	write	write	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 suffices	xcomp
11	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	12 word	det
12	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 write	obj
13	whatsoever	whatsoever	PRON	PronType=Int	10 write	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	suffice	present	a small number of sound signs						tree rules
2	write	to-infinitive	a small number of sound signs not said here	any word					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent word=Recipient whatsoever=Topic

Option 3

Fewer signs are quicker

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fewer	few	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 signs	amod
2	signs	sign	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 quicker	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 quicker	cop
4	quicker	quick	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Fewer signs					quick property	tree rules

Option 4

Alphabets are prettier on a cave wall

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Alphabets	alphabet	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 prettier	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 prettier	cop
3	prettier	pretty	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
4	on	on	ADP	_	7 wall	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 wall	det
6	cave	cave	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 wall	compound
7	wall	wall	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 prettier	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Alphabets			a cave wall		pretty property	tree rules

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/88-justso-alphabet-2-shu-ya-sky-water/e4/