How writing began: from tally marks and pictures to the alphabet

Tests: 4 of 12 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 12 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 82 of the history 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 · ★★ · right ✓

Taffy sends a picture-letter and her mother thinks Tegumai has been hurt. What does this show about pictures?

1. They can be read in different ways, unlike words — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
2. Pictures are faster to read than any letters — score 7
3. Mothers cannot read pictures at all — score 6
4. Pictures always mean exactly one thing to everybody who sees them — score -2

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 9, against 7 for the next best. Its support: lesson 82, line 2: «People painted animals in caves tens of thousands of years ago, but a picture is not yet writing: it does not tell you the exact words, so two people can read…», 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 (+4); the same action «read» (+3); the same thing acted on «picture» (+3). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★ · wrong ✗

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

1. A girl and her dad really did make it up in one day — no support
2. It was invented by the Romans, who taught it to everyone — ← Mova's choice · score 4
3. One Egyptian king invented every letter in a single year — no support
4. It grew slowly over thousands of years, in several places — ✓ the right answer · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 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 63, line 1: «Jack's friend says writing was invented in one place and everyone copied the ABC. Wren's friend adds that peoples without writing had no laws, just chaos. Both…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «invent» (+2); the same thing acted on «writing» (+2). The right option, 4, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★★ · right ✓

You draw an eye, a can and a sea to write «I can see». Which trick is that?

1. The alphabet trick of one letter per sound — score 7
2. The cave trick of drawing what you saw — no support
3. The tally trick of counting with marks — no support
4. The rebus trick of pictures for sounds — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 8, against 7 for the next best. Its support: lesson 82, line 4: «The biggest trick came next: using a picture for its SOUND, not its meaning. From that idea came the alphabet, a small set of letters that can write any word a…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same thing acted on «picture» (+3); the same circumstance (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Turn a capital A upside down. Which old picture might you see?

1. A fish with its mouth open — no support
2. An ox's head with two horns — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. A snake curled round an egg — no support
4. A house with a door — ← Mova's choice · score 6

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 68, line 4: «Taxes shape how people live. From 1696 to 1851 England taxed houses by their windows, so people bricked some up, and you can still see the dark patches today.…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same thing acted on «houses» (+3). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★ · wrong ✗

★★ A Phoenician ship sails from Tyre to Carthage and Greece with dye and letters. Why did the alphabet spread so fast?

1. The Phoenicians fought wars to make everyone use it — ← Mova's choice · score 5
2. Traders sailed everywhere and needed a quick, easy way to write — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. It was carved on the ships so everybody saw it — no support
4. Every king ordered his people to learn it in one day — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 82, line 15: «The Romans took the alphabet from the Greeks and the Etruscans; English uses their Latin alphabet, and the Cyrillic alphabet of Ukrainian grew from the Greek o…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «use» (+2); a different doer (counts against) (+2); the same thing acted on «latin alphabet» (+1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«Chinese is just an alphabet with loads of letters innit» What is right?

1. Yes, it has exactly 26 letters like English — ← Mova's choice · score 6
2. No, it uses thousands of characters, not 26 letters — ✓ the right answer · score 3
3. No, Chinese is not written down at all — no support
4. Yes, it is the Greek alphabet drawn in a different way — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 6, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 82, line 13: «The Phoenician alphabet had letters only for consonants, not for vowels; the Hebrew and Arabic scripts grew from the same family and are still often written wi…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «phoenician alphabet» (+2); the same thing acted on «letters» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). The right option, 2, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★ · right ✓

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

1. They borrowed it from the Phoenicians and added vowels — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
2. No, it came from China along the Silk Road — no support
3. No, the Romans gave it to the Greeks — no support
4. Yes, the Greeks made every single letter from nothing — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 82, line 14: «The Greeks borrowed the alphabet about 2,800 years ago and added vowels; the word «alphabet» comes from their first two letters, alpha and beta.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «add» (+2); the same doer «greeks» (+2); the same thing acted on «vowels» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★ · right ✓

Why could Kipling's Tegumai not really have written letters in Stone Age Surrey?

1. Writing reached Britain only with the Romans, thousands of years later — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. There was no birch-bark anywhere in Stone Age Britain then — no support
3. It always rained too hard to write outside — no support
4. Stone Age people were not clever enough to learn — 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 9 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Which pair of scripts both grew from the old alphabet of the Phoenicians?

1. Chinese and Maya — ← Mova's choice · score 8
2. Latin and Arabic — ✓ the right answer · score 5
3. Chinese and Japanese — score 8
4. Egyptian hieroglyphs and cuneiform — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. 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 75, line 10: «The Phoenicians spread their alphabet around the Mediterranean from about 1050 BCE; the Greeks added vowels, and the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets grew from the…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «grow» (+4); the same circumstance (+4). The right option, 2, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★ · wrong ✗

★★ A Phoenician word «brd» could be read «bread», «bird», «bard» or «board». Which problem do the missing letters cause?

1. Without vowels words become far too long to write — no support
2. Without vowels you cannot write any word at all — ← Mova's choice · score 9
3. Without vowels nobody could say the word out loud — no support
4. Without vowels a word can be read in several ways — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 9, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 82, line 4: «The biggest trick came next: using a picture for its SOUND, not its meaning. From that idea came the alphabet, a small set of letters that can write any word a…», 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 (+4); the same action «write» (+3); the same thing acted on «word» (+3); the same place «all» (+3). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1); one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-3). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ The Phoenicians had 22 letters. The Greeks added 5 new letters at the end and later dropped 3 old ones they did not need. How many letters has the Greek alphabet?

1. 22 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 24 — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. 30 — no support
4. 27 — 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 12 · ★★ · wrong ✗

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

1. Cave paintings are much older but are pictures, not writing; writing began with counting records — ✓ the right answer · score 5
2. No, cave paintings were made after writing was invented — score 4
3. Yes, every cave painting can be read word for word today — score 3
4. Yes, cave people wrote whole stories in letters on the walls, which we can still read today — ← Mova's choice · score 10

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 10, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 45, line 13: «Mykola (Nikolai) Gogol was born in Ukraine and wrote stories about Ukrainian life, but he wrote in Russian and lived in St Petersburg and Rome, so both culture…», 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 (+4); the same action «write» (+3); the same thing acted on «stories» (+3). The right option, 1, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the principal purpose for which writing was first employed in Mesopotamia.

1. The drawing of maps for travellers by sea — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The recording of quantities of grain, livestock and other goods held by temples and traders — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The teaching of children to read in schools — no support
4. The composition of poetry for the entertainment of kings — 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 ✓

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the earliest alphabet?

1. Each sign denoted a vowel and never a consonant — no support
2. Each sign denoted an entire word or idea, as in the writing of China — no support
3. Picture-signs were employed solely for the first sound of their names — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
4. It comprised several thousand signs — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 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 82, line 10: «About 3,800 years ago, workers in Egypt and Sinai who spoke a language related to Hebrew and Arabic took Egyptian picture-signs and used each one only for the…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «use» (+3); the same circumstance (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓

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

1. They were seafaring merchants of the eastern Mediterranean who disseminated a consonantal alphabet — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
2. They were the inventors of the pyramids, who wrote solely by means of hieroglyphs — no support
3. They were a people of China who invented paper — no support
4. They were Roman soldiers who brought writing to Britain — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 82, line 12: «The Phoenicians were sea-traders from cities such as Tyre, Sidon and Byblos in today's Lebanon, famous for a costly purple dye made from sea snails; about 3,00…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «phoenicians» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Ascertain the people to whom the alphabet owes the addition of letters for vowels.

1. The Phoenicians — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The Greeks — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The Sumerians — no support
4. The Egyptians — 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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