Exam question 2 · How writing began: from tally marks and pictures to the al…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the earliest alphabet?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: earliest alphabet

This is exam question 2 of lesson 82 «How writing began: from tally marks and pictures to the alphabet» of the history 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	11 alphabet	det
10	earliest	early	ADJ	Degree=Sup	11 alphabet	amod
11	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	?	?	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 earliest alphabet				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

Each sign denoted a vowel and never a consonant

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 sign	det
2	sign	sign	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 denoted	nsubj
3	denoted	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 vowel	det
5	vowel	vowel	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 denoted	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 consonant	cc
7	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	9 consonant	advmod
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 consonant	det
9	consonant	consonant	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 vowel	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	past	each sign	a vowel and a consonant					vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot vowel=Topic

Option 2

Each sign denoted an entire word or idea, as in the writing of China

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 sign	det
2	sign	sign	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 denoted	nsubj
3	denoted	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 word	det
5	entire	entire	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 word	amod
6	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 denoted	obj
7	or	or	CCONJ	_	8 idea	cc
8	idea	idea	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 word	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 writing	punct
10	as	as	ADP	_	13 writing	case
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 writing	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 writing	det
13	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 denoted	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 China	case
15	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 writing	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	past	each sign	a entire word or idea				as the writing of China	vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot word=Topic
2	write			China					nom writing «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Picture-signs were employed solely for the first sound of their names

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Picture	picture	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 signs	compound
2	-	-	PUNCT	_	1 Picture	punct
3	signs	sign	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 employed	nsubj:pass
4	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 employed	aux:pass
5	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	solely	solely	ADV	_	5 employed	advmod
7	for	for	ADP	_	10 sound	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 sound	det
9	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	10 sound	amod
10	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 employed	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 names	case
12	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 names	nmod:poss
13	names	name	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 sound	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	past · passive		Picture signs				for the first sound of signs's names; solely property	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: subject=Theme for sound=Eventuality
2	name		signs = sign						nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

It comprised several thousand signs

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 comprised	nsubj
2	comprised	comprise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	several	several	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 thousand	amod
4	thousand	thousand	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 signs	nummod
5	signs	sign	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 comprised	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	comprise	past	It	thousand signs					vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme sign=Pivot

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/history/82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet/e2/