---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Just So Stories, How the First Letter… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the arrival of writing in Britain? Exam question 4 of lesson 86 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3: «a great invention» and the road on Merrow Down» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependen
---

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# Exam question 4 · Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3:…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the arrival of writing in Britain?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** writing · **What happens:** follow, characteris, arrive · **To what, where:** arrival

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 86 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3: «a great invention» and the road on Merrow Down» of the books course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:e4:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the arrival of writing in Britain?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	arrival	arrival	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	Britain	Britain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the arrival of writing in Britain |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **arrive** |  | writing in Britain |  |  |  |  |  | nom arrival «act intransitive»: of=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was invented in Surrey during the Stone Age

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:e4:o1:1
# text = It was invented in Surrey during the Stone Age
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	invented	invent	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Surrey	Surrey	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	during	during	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	Stone	Stone	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	Age	Age	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invent** | past · passive |  | It |  | Surrey | during the Stone Age |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It arrived in the present century, by means of the telephone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:e4:o2:1
# text = It arrived in the present century, by means of the telephone
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	present	present	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	telephone	telephone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **arrive** | past | It |  |  |  | century |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of the telephone | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It has never arrived

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:e4:o3:1
# text = It has never arrived
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **arrive** | present · perfect · passive |  | It |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It arrived with the Romans, approximately two thousand years ago

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:e4:o4:1
# text = It arrived with the Romans, approximately two thousand years ago
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Romans	Roman	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	approximately	approximately	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	compound	_	_
9	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
11	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **arrive** | past | It |  |  |  | year | with the Romans | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- 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…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/e3/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3: «a great invention» and the road on Merrow Down](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/)