---
title: Real life, bare (= very) old: which came first in human history? — Just So Stories, How the First Letter… · tree and pragmatics
description: Real life, bare (= very) old: which came first in human history? Test 9 · ★ 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 o
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1:…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Real life, bare (= very) old: which came first in human history?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** come · **To what, where:** human history

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t9:1
# text = Real life, bare (= very) old: which came first in human history?
1	Real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
5	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	=	=	SYM	SYM	_	9	punct	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	7	punct	_	_
9	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
11	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
12	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
13	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	12	advmod	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past |  |  |  | human history |  | first *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in history=Location |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cave pictures, tens of thousands of years before writing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t9:o1:1
# text = Cave pictures, tens of thousands of years before writing
1	Cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	pictures	picture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	tens	ten	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
9	before	before	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cave pictures, tens of thousands of years before writing, which was invented only in the last few thousand years

<!-- fold The tree, 19 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t9:o2:1
# text = Cave pictures, tens of thousands of years before writing, which was invented only in the last few thousand years
1	Cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	pictures	picture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	tens	ten	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
9	before	before	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	invented	invent	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
15	only	only	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
18	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
19	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
21	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invent** | past · passive |  | Cave pictures and tens of thousands of years before writing |  |  | year |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cave pictures, tens of thousands of years before writing, and before even the first farms and villages were built

<!-- fold The tree, 19 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t9:o3:1
# text = Cave pictures, tens of thousands of years before writing, and before even the first farms and villages were built
1	Cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	pictures	picture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	tens	ten	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
9	before	before	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	before	before	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	even	even	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	17	amod	_	_
17	farms	farm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	villages	village	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	conj	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	built	build	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | past · passive |  | the first farms and villages *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V» |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Stories were told aloud, then written down later on clay

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear:t9:o4:1
# text = Stories were told aloud, then written down later on clay
1	Stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	aloud	aloud	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
7	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
8	down	down	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	7	advmod	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | Stories |  |  |  | aloud *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 2 | **write down** | participle |  |  |  | clay | then | late *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent on clay=Destination |

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**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 -->

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- ← previous: [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/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/t10/)
- ↑ 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/)