---
title: Real life: when and where was writing first invented? — Just So Stories, How the First Letter… · tree and pragmatics
description: Real life: when and where was writing first invented? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 84 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1: a broken spear and a picture on birch-bark» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each opti
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/t7/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/) / [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/) / t7

# Test 7 · ★ · Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1:…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Real life: when and where was writing first invented?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** write, invent

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 84 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1: a broken spear and a picture on birch-bark» of the books 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t7:1
# text = Real life: when and where was writing first invented?
1	Real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	8	advmod	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	writing	write	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	parataxis	_	_
9	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	10	advmod	_	_
10	invented	invent	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | past · progressive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **invent** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | first *property* | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
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 {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About 5,000 years ago in Greece and Italy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t7:o1:1
# text = About 5,000 years ago in Greece and Italy
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	5,000	5000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Greece	Greece	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	Italy	Italy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About 50,000 years ago, in a cave in Spain, and later in many other places around the world

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t7:o2:1
# text = About 50,000 years ago, in a cave in Spain, and later in many other places around the world
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	50,000	50000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Spain	Spain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	17	advmod	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
16	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	places	place	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	_
18	around	around	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About 5,000 years ago, in Mesopotamia and Egypt

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t7:o3:1
# text = About 5,000 years ago, in Mesopotamia and Egypt
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	5,000	5000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Mesopotamia	Mesopotamia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About 5,000 years ago, first in Mesopotamia and Egypt, and later in India and China and Mexico

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t7:o4:1
# text = About 5,000 years ago, first in Mesopotamia and Egypt, and later in India and China and Mexico
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	5,000	5000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	advmod	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Mesopotamia	Mesopotamia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	India	India	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	Mexico	Mexico	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/t6/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/t8/)
- ↑ back to [Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1: a broken spear and a picture on birch-bark](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/)