Test 2 · ★★ · How writing began: from tally marks and pictures to the al…

«lol writing was invented by one clever guy one day, like in the book» What is closer to the truth?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: one clever guy, book · What happens: invent, be · To what, where: lol writing

This is test 2 · ★★ 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	_	5 invented	punct
2	lol	lol	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 writing	amod
3	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 invented	nsubj:pass
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 invented	aux:pass
5	invented	invent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	by	by	ADP	_	9 guy	case
7	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 guy	nummod
8	clever	clever	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 guy	amod
9	guy	guy	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 invented	obl
10	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 day	nummod
11	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 invented	obl:unmarked
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 book	punct
13	like	like	ADP	_	16 book	case
14	in	in	ADP	_	16 book	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 book	det
16	book	book	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 invented	parataxis
17	»	»	PUNCT	_	16 book	punct
18	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	20 closer	nsubj
19	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	20 closer	cop
20	closer	close	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	16 book	amod
21	to	to	ADP	_	23 truth	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 truth	det
23	truth	truth	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 closer	obl
24	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 invented	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	invent in a quote	past · passive	one clever guy	lol writing			day		vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Result
2	is	present	the book					to the truth; close 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

A girl and her dad really did make it up in one day

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 girl	det
2	girl	girl	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 make	nsubj
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 dad	cc
4	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 dad	nmod:poss
5	dad	dad	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 girl	conj
6	really	really	ADV	_	8 make	advmod
7	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 make	aux
8	make	make	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 make	obj
10	up	up	ADP	_	8 make	compound:prt
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 day	case
12	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	13 day	nummod
13	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 make	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make up	past · do-support	a girl and her dad	it			day		vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme it=Pivot

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It was invented by the Romans, who taught it to everyone

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	3 invented	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 invented	aux:pass
3	invented	invent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 Romans	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Romans	det
6	Romans	Roman	PROPN	Number=Plur	3 invented	obl:agent
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 taught	punct
8	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 taught	nsubj
9	taught	teach	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 invented	conj
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 taught	obj
11	to	to	ADP	_	12 everyone	case
12	everyone	everyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Tot	9 taught	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	invent	past · passive	the Romans	It					vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Result
2	teach speech: other	past		it	everyone				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Topic to everyone=Recipient

Option 3

One Egyptian king invented every letter in a single year

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	One	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 king	nummod
2	Egyptian	Egyptian	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 king	amod
3	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 invented	nsubj
4	invented	invent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	6 letter	det
6	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 invented	obj
7	in	in	ADP	_	10 year	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 year	det
9	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 year	amod
10	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 invented	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	invent	participle	One Egyptian king	every letter			year		vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent letter=Result

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It grew slowly over thousands of years, in several places

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 grew	nsubj
2	grew	grow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	slowly	slowly	ADV	_	2 grew	advmod
4	over	over	ADP	_	5 thousands	case
5	thousands	thousand	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 grew	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 years	case
7	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 thousands	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 places	punct
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 places	case
10	several	several	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 places	amod
11	places	place	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 grew	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	grow	past	It			thousands of years		in several places; slowly property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over thousand=Location

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/t2/