Exam question 3 · How writing began: from tally marks and pictures to the al…

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the Phoenicians.

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

This is exam question 3 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	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 Phoenicians	det
11	Phoenicians	Phoenician	PROPN	Number=Plur	9 concerning	obj
12	.	.	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 Phoenicians		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus phoenician=Experiencer

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

They were seafaring merchants of the eastern Mediterranean who disseminated a consonantal alphabet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 merchants	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 merchants	cop
3	seafaring	seafaring	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 merchants	amod
4	merchants	merchant	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 Mediterranean	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Mediterranean	det
7	eastern	eastern	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 Mediterranean	amod
8	Mediterranean	Mediterranean	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 merchants	nmod
9	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 disseminated	nsubj
10	disseminated	disseminate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 merchants	acl:relcl
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 alphabet	det
12	consonantal	consonantal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 alphabet	amod
13	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 disseminated	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	They	seafaring merchants				of the eastern Mediterranean	tree rules
2	disseminate	past	seafaring merchants	a consonantal alphabet					vn contribute-13.2-1 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent alphabet=Theme

Option 2

They were the inventors of the pyramids, who wrote solely by means of hieroglyphs

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 inventors	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 inventors	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 inventors	det
4	inventors	inventor	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 means	nsubj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 pyramids	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 pyramids	det
7	pyramids	pyramid	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 inventors	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 wrote	punct
9	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 wrote	nsubj
10	wrote	write	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 inventors	parataxis
11	solely	solely	ADV	_	10 wrote	advmod
12	by	by	ADP	_	10 wrote	obl
13	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 hieroglyphs	case
15	hieroglyphs	hieroglyph	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 means	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	past	They	the inventors	of the pyramids	tree rules
2	write	past	the inventors		solely property	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	mean	present	the inventors		of hieroglyphs	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

Option 3

They were a people of China who invented paper

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 people	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 people	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 people	det
4	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 China	case
6	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 people	nmod
7	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 invented	nsubj
8	invented	invent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 people	acl:relcl
9	paper	paper	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 invented	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	They	a people				of China	tree rules
2	invent	past	a people	paper					vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent paper=Result

Option 4

They were Roman soldiers who brought writing to Britain

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 soldiers	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 soldiers	cop
3	Roman	roman	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 soldiers	amod
4	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 brought	nsubj
6	brought	bring	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 soldiers	acl:relcl
7	writing	write	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 brought	xcomp
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 Britain	case
9	Britain	Britain	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 writing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	roles by
1	is a	past	They	Roman soldiers		tree rules
2	bring	past	Roman soldiers			tree rules
3	write	gerund	Roman soldiers not said here		Britain	vn lecture-37.11-1 «NP V PP.recipient PP.topic»: agent=Agent to britain=Recipient

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/e3/