---
title: ★★★ The poem says Taffy lived on Merrow Down «long and long before»… — Just So Stories, How the First Letter… · tree and pragmatics
description: ★★★ The poem says Taffy lived on Merrow Down «long and long before» the ancient Britons traded there. If the Britons traded about 2,500 years ago, when did Taffy live? Test 17 · ★ of lesson 86 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3: «a great invention» and the road on Merrow Down
---

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# Test 17 · ★ · Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3:…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
★★★ The poem says Taffy lived on Merrow Down «long and long before» the ancient Britons traded there. If the Britons traded about 2,500 years ago, when did Taffy live?

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**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** ★, Taffy, ancient Britons, Britons · **What happens:** say, live, trade · **To what, where:** Merrow Down · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 17 · ★ 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. 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/#t17).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* ★★★ The poem says Taffy lived on Merrow Down «long and long before» the ancient Britons traded there.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t17:1
# text = ★★★ The poem says Taffy lived on Merrow Down «long and long before» the ancient Britons traded there.
1	★	★	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	★	★	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	1	dep	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	★	★	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	poem	poem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	Merrow	Merrow	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	Down	Down	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	21	advmod	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	16	advmod	_	_
16	before	before	ADV	RB	_	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	Britons	Briton	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
21	traded	trade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
22	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | ★ |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **live** | past | Taffy |  |  | Merrow Down |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on down=Location |
| 3 | **trade** | past | the ancient Britons |  |  | there |  | long *property* | vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP»: 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* If the Britons traded about 2,500 years ago, when did Taffy live?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t17:2
# text = If the Britons traded about 2,500 years ago, when did Taffy live?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Britons	Briton	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	traded	trade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
5	about	about	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	2,500	2500	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
8	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
11	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **trade** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the Britons |  |  |  |  | ago *property* | vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **live** | past · do-support | Taffy |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Even earlier than that

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t17:o1:1
# text = Even earlier than that
1	Even	even	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	earlier	early	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
3	than	than	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
After the Romans

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t17:o2:1
# text = After the Romans
1	After	after	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Romans	Roman	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At just the same time as the ancient Britons traded there

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t17:o3:1
# text = At just the same time as the ancient Britons traded there
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	just	just	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
6	as	as	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	Britons	Briton	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
10	traded	trade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	10	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **trade** | past |  |  |  | there | time |  | vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Last year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t17:o4:1
# text = Last year
1	Last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/t16/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/e1/)
- ↑ 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/)