Test 12 · ★★ · How writing began: from tally marks and pictures to the al…

«writing came from cave paintings, cave people wrote stories on the walls» What would you say?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: writing, cave people, you · What happens: come, write, say · To what, where: cave paintings, stories, walls · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 12 · ★★ of lesson 82 «How writing began: from tally marks and pictures to the alphabet» of the history 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	«	«	PUNCT	_	3 came	punct
2	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 came	nsubj
3	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 paintings	case
5	cave	cave	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 paintings	compound
6	paintings	painting	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 came	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 wrote	punct
8	cave	cave	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 people	compound
9	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 wrote	nsubj
10	wrote	write	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 came	conj
11	stories	story	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 wrote	obj
12	on	on	ADP	_	14 walls	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 walls	det
14	walls	wall	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 wrote	obl
15	»	»	PUNCT	_	10 wrote	punct
16	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	19 say	obj
17	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	19 say	aux
18	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	19 say	nsubj
19	say	say	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 wrote	ccomp
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 came	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	come in a quote	past	writing		cave paintings	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from painting=Initial_Location
2	write in a quote	past	cave people	stories	the walls	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent story=Recipient clause=Topic
3	say speech: assert	would	you			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic

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 · ✓ the right answer

Cave paintings are much older but are pictures, not writing; writing began with counting records

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Cave	cave	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 paintings	compound
2	paintings	painting	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 older	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 older	cop
4	much	much	ADV	_	5 older	advmod
5	older	old	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	13 writing	amod
6	but	but	CCONJ	_	8 pictures	cc
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 pictures	cop
8	pictures	picture	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 older	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 writing	punct
10	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	11 writing	advmod
11	writing	write	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 older	conj
12	;	;	PUNCT	_	5 older	punct
13	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 began	nsubj
14	began	begin	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
15	with	with	ADP	_	17 records	case
16	counting	count	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	17 records	compound
17	records	record	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 began	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	Cave paintings		old property	tree rules
2	is a	present	Cave paintings not said here	pictures		tree rules
3	not write	gerund	Cave paintings not said here			vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	begin	past	older writing		with counting records	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with record=Subeventuality
5	count	gerund				vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus

Option 2

No, cave paintings were made after writing was invented

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	INTJ	Polarity=Neg	6 made	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 No	punct
3	cave	cave	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 paintings	compound
4	paintings	painting	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 made	nsubj:pass
5	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 made	aux:pass
6	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	after	after	ADP	_	8 writing	case
8	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 invented	obl
9	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 invented	aux:pass
10	invented	invent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 made	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	past · passive		cave paintings					vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product
2	invent	past · passive					after writing		vn create-26.4-1 «NP V»

Option 3

Yes, every cave painting can be read word for word today

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	8 read	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Yes	punct
3	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	5 painting	det
4	cave	cave	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 painting	compound
5	painting	painting	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 read	nsubj:pass
6	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 read	aux
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 read	aux:pass
8	read	read	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 read	obl
10	for	for	ADP	_	11 word	case
11	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 word	nmod
12	today	today	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 read	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	read	can · passive		every cave painting			today	word for word obl	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Yes, cave people wrote whole stories in letters on the walls, which we can still read today

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	4 people	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Yes	punct
3	cave	cave	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 people	compound
4	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 wrote	nsubj
5	wrote	write	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 stories	amod
7	stories	story	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 wrote	obj
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 letters	case
9	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 wrote	obl
10	on	on	ADP	_	12 walls	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 walls	det
12	walls	wall	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 letters	nmod
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 read	punct
14	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	18 read	obj
15	we	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	18 read	nsubj
16	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	18 read	aux
17	still	still	ADV	_	18 read	advmod
18	read	read	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 walls	acl:relcl
19	today	today	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 read	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	write	past	cave people	whole stories		letters on the walls			vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent story=Theme in letter=Destination
2	read	can	we	the walls			still; today		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Topic

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/t12/