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Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 3: «the Alphabet, all complete», and how letters really began

Tests: 7 of 18 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 12 of 22 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 89 of the books course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Ivy: «they made the whole alphabet in like five minutes, slay.» (slay = brilliant) Put it right.

  • 1. It took about two thousand years — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. It took an afternoon, an evening and the whole next day, with many people helping — no support
  • 3. It took an afternoon, an evening and the whole next day, and they drew it in smoke — no support
  • 4. It took an afternoon, an evening and the whole next day — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★ · right ✓

Why does Taffy feel a little sad about «shi-las»?

  • 1. Her spear sign was too messy to read — score 0
  • 2. Two simple signs could have said «broken spear» without all the trouble — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
  • 3. Two simple signs could have said «broken spear» without all the trouble of the long drawing — score 3
  • 4. Tegumai drew it better than her — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 3, tied with another option at 3 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 89, line 3: «All evening they draw signs in the smoke on the Cave wall and giggle, and Mummy says «Really, Tegumai, you're worse than my Taffy.» Next morning Taffy finds «Y…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «sign» (+2); a different action (counts against) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«The easier we make our sound-pictures the better.» Why is Tegumai right?

  • 1. Simple signs are quick to write and hard to mix up when the Tribe reads them at night — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. Simple signs are slow to draw but clear to read — no support
  • 3. Hard signs are quick to draw and easy to mix up — no support
  • 4. Simple signs are quick to write and hard to mix up — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★ · wrong ✗

What would happen if the T stayed a full family picture?

  • 1. Writing would be slow and tiring, and the Tribe would give up on it — no support
  • 2. Writing would be slow and tiring — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 3. Drawing would be easy and clean — score 0
  • 4. Writing would be slow and tiring, so Tegumai would draw the whole family every time he wrote — ← Mova's choice · score 2

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 4 with score 2, against 0 for the next best. Its support: lesson 79, line 21: «The "Precession of the Equinoxes" is a real, very slow wobble of the Earth that takes about 26,000 years, so saying something happened "in the middle of" it on…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «joke» (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Which is TRUE in this part?

  • 1. Taffy reads a written message, does what it says without being told aloud, and then writes one back to Tegumai in the smoke — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. Taffy reads a message aloud to Mummy at dawn — no support
  • 3. Taffy reads a written message and does what it says without being told aloud, which surprises everyone in the Cave — no support
  • 4. Taffy reads a written message and does what it says without being told aloud — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★ · right ✓

Real life: did one family make the alphabet in a day?

  • 1. Yes, one family in a week — no support
  • 2. No, it took a thousand years — no support
  • 3. No: it grew over about 2,000 years — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
  • 4. No, it grew slowly — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 89, line 16: «Real life: the alphabet was not made in one day by one family; it grew over about 2,000 years. The Phoenicians, sea-traders of the eastern Mediterranean, sprea…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «grow» (+3); the same property (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Real life: what did the Greeks add to the alphabet they borrowed from the Phoenicians?

  • 1. Letters for vowel sounds, such as a, e, i, o and u — no support
  • 2. Letters for hard sounds — ← Mova's choice · score 3
  • 3. Letters for vowel sounds and for the numbers one to ten — score 3
  • 4. Letters for vowel sounds — ✓ the right answer · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 3, tied with another option at 3 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 89, line 16: «Real life: the alphabet was not made in one day by one family; it grew over about 2,000 years. The Phoenicians, sea-traders of the eastern Mediterranean, sprea…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same thing acted on «letters» (+1); the same circumstance (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Real life: which of our letters may have begun as wavy water?

  • 1. I — ← Mova's choice · score 4
  • 2. M — ✓ the right answer · score 4
  • 3. NW — score 4
  • 4. MW — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 87, line 17: «Real life: our letter A began as a picture of an ox's head, called «alp» (ox); turn A upside down and you can still see the head and horns.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «begin» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). The right option, 2, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Real life: old Greek and Latin were often written how?

  • 1. In very large letters — no support
  • 2. With no spaces between words, like Taffy's first messages — ← Mova's choice · score -1
  • 3. With no spaces between words — ✓ the right answer · score -1
  • 4. Written in short lines — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 2 with score -1, tied with another option at -1 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 89, line 1: «Tegumai wants to write a whole message: «Shu-ya-las, ya maru», sky-water ending, come to the river. «Las» is a teaser; Taffy remembers that las also means brok…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+5); the same action «write» (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-2); one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-6). The right option, 3, scored -1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Looking back: in part 2, what did «yo» mean?

  • 1. Good river-water — ← Mova's choice · score 8
  • 2. Bad fish — score 8
  • 3. Bad snake-mud — score 8
  • 4. Bad swamp-water — ✓ the right answer · score 8

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 8, tied with another option at 8 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 89, line 7: ««Las» means ending, breaking or finishing; «to-las» means no water in the tank for Mummy, and «shi-las» means the spear is broken.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same action «mean» (+2); the same thing acted on «water» (+2). The right option, 4, scored 8. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★★ · right ✓

Looking back: in part 1, which sign meant ah?

  • 1. A carp-fish's open mouth, drawn beside the broken spear — score 4
  • 2. A pike's closed mouth — no support
  • 3. A carp-fish's open mouth — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
  • 4. A carp-fish's open mouth, with a spear behind it — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 89, line 9: ««Mum shuts one's mouth up», so a shut mouth is the m-sign (16.); with the open carp-mouth after it, it makes «ma».», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «mouth» (+2); the same property (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 12 · ★★ · right ✓

Looking back: what did the Tribe think Taffy's beavers were?

  • 1. A pack of bad people — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 2. A herd of wild pigs — no support
  • 3. A group of friends — no support
  • 4. Pack of dogs — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 13 · ★★ · right ✓

Looking back: in the first Taffy story, the Head Chief foretold how many letters?

  • 1. Twenty-six — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
  • 2. Twenty-four — score 6
  • 3. Ten — score 6
  • 4. Five — score 6

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 6, tied with another option at 6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 86, line 10: «The Head Chief: «It is a great invention, and some day men will call it writing. At present it is only pictures, and ... pictures are not always properly under…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «day men» (+4); the same action «call» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 14 · ★★ · right ✓

Tom from Cardiff: «Tegumai gave Taffy a cwtch after the rain.» (cwtch = cuddle) What did Tegumai really do when the rain came?

  • 1. Got up and danced — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 2. Laughed and ran off — no support
  • 3. Cried — no support
  • 4. Got up and danced all round the Cave — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 15 · ★★ · right ✓

Real life: Kipling's poem says «none remain» and Tegumai is far behind, looking for his daughter. What sad real event do many readers think of?

  • 1. Kipling lost a son in the First World War — no support
  • 2. Kipling's daughter Josephine died at six, three years before the book came out, and he wrote the poem in grief — score 6
  • 3. Kipling's daughter Josephine died at six, three years before the book came out — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
  • 4. Kipling's daughter Josephine died at six, three years before the book came out, in the cold winter — score 6

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 6, tied with another option at 6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 89, line 19: «Real life: Kipling's own daughter Josephine, the first «Best Beloved» for whom he told these stories, died of an illness in 1899 when she was six, three years…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «come out» (+4); the same doer «book» (+1); the same property (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 16 · ★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Careful: «Ya-las» was chalked on the tank. Which signs from the story would spell it, in order?

  • 1. Carp-tail, carp-mouth, broken-spear la, carp-mouth, snake, then the shut-mouth mum sign — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. Carp-tail, carp-mouth, broken-spear la, carp-mouth, snake, and a rain sign at the end — no support
  • 3. Carp-tail, carp-mouth, broken-spear la, carp-mouth, snake — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 4. Carp-tail, carp-mouth, snake — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 17 · ★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Taffy, Tegumai, Teshumai all start with T. Which of these Tribe words, also in the story, starts with a sound they had already made a sign for BEFORE the T?

  • 1. Yalas-ya — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. Shu — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 3. Maru — no support
  • 4. Shumai — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 18 · ★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Real life: the Phoenician alphabet had 22 letters and English has 26. Which three letters did English add only in the last thousand years?

  • 1. J, U and W — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 2. J, U and W, all in the last thousand years — no support
  • 3. J, U, W and Y, added in the last thousand years — ← Mova's choice · score 4
  • 4. J, U and Y — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 89, line 17: «Real life: the Greeks borrowed it and added vowels; the Romans took it from the Greeks and the Etruscans and made the Latin alphabet, which English uses. J, U…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same property (+2); the same action «add» (+1); the same thing acted on «j» (+1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the sign adopted by Tegumai for the rough sound r.

  • 1. A saw-edge reduced to a single tooth, drawn beside the plank — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. A saw-edge reduced to a single tooth, with the plank and canoe beside it — no support
  • 3. A saw-edge reduced to a single tooth — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 4. A fish with a broken fin — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓

Ascertain the content of the message chalked upon the water-tank on the following morning.

  • 1. Shu-ya, the rain was coming — no support
  • 2. Ya-las, the water was ending, so fetch some from the spring — score 6
  • 3. Ya-las, the water was ending — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
  • 4. Ya-las, the water was ending, and Mummy must boil it first — score 6

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, tied with another option at 6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 89, line 12: ««Ya-las», water is ending, is chalked on the big stone water-tank; Taffy fills it from the spring with a bark bucket, then pulls Daddy's left ear, «the one tha…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «end» (+4); the same doer «water» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

It is given that the T-sound was represented by a family group. Select the response most consistent with the subsequent development of that sign.

  • 1. A round snake with arms folded tight across its body — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. It became a thin figure of Tegumai with his arms outstretched — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 3. It became a thin figure of Tegumai with his arms outstretched, drawn many times over on the cave wall — no support
  • 4. It became a thin figure of Tegumai with his arms outstretched, and then the family group came back again — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the real historical origin of the alphabet?

  • 1. It was invented in a single afternoon — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. It was invented by one Egyptian scribe in a single lifetime, the Romans adding numbers — no support
  • 3. It developed over some two thousand years among several peoples, the Greeks adding vowels — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 4. It grew over some five hundred years in one city, the Greeks dropping vowels — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

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