Test 7 · ★★ · How writing began: from tally marks and pictures to the al…

«my teacher says the Greeks invented the alphabet» What is the fairer answer?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: teacher, Greeks · What happens: say, invent, be · To what, where: alphabet, fairer answer · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 7 · ★★ 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	_	4 says	punct
2	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 teacher	nmod:poss
3	teacher	teacher	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 says	nsubj
4	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Greeks	det
6	Greeks	Greek	PROPN	Number=Plur	7 invented	nsubj
7	invented	invent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 says	ccomp
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 alphabet	det
9	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 invented	obj
10	»	»	PUNCT	_	7 invented	punct
11	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	15 answer	nsubj
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 answer	cop
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 answer	det
14	fairer	fair	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	15 answer	amod
15	answer	answer	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 invented	parataxis
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	say speech: assert in a quote	present	my teacher		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	invent in a quote	past	the Greeks	the alphabet	tree rules
3	be speech: assert	present		the fairer answer	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 · ✓ the right answer

They borrowed it from the Phoenicians and added vowels

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	2 borrowed	nsubj
2	borrowed	borrow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 borrowed	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 Phoenicians	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Phoenicians	det
6	Phoenicians	Phoenician	PROPN	Number=Plur	2 borrowed	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 added	cc
8	added	add	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 borrowed	conj
9	vowels	vowel	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 added	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	borrow	past	They	it		the Phoenicians			vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent it=Theme from phoenician=Source
2	add speech: assert	past	They not said here	vowels					vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vowel=Patient

Option 2

No, it came from China along the Silk Road

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	INTJ	Polarity=Neg	4 came	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 came	punct
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 came	nsubj
4	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	from	from	ADP	_	6 China	case
6	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 came	obl
7	along	along	ADP	_	10 Road	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Road	det
9	Silk	Silk	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 Road	compound
10	Road	Road	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 came	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	come	past	it			China		along the Silk Road	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme from china=Initial_Location along road=Destination

Option 3

No, the Romans gave it to the Greeks

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	INTJ	Polarity=Neg	5 gave	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 No	punct
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Romans	det
4	Romans	Roman	PROPN	Number=Plur	5 gave	nsubj
5	gave	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 gave	obj
7	to	to	ADP	_	9 Greeks	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Greeks	det
9	Greeks	Greek	PROPN	Number=Plur	5 gave	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	past	the Romans	it	the Greeks				vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Theme to greek=Recipient

Option 4

Yes, the Greeks made every single letter from nothing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	5 made	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Yes	punct
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Greeks	det
4	Greeks	Greek	PROPN	Number=Plur	5 made	nsubj
5	made	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	8 letter	det
7	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 letter	amod
8	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 made	obj
9	from	from	ADP	_	10 nothing	case
10	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	5 made	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	past	the Greeks	every single letter		nothing			vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.product PP.material»: agent=Agent letter=Product from nothing=Material

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/t7/