---
title: What would have happened if Taffy had drawn the spear once, small an… — Just So Stories, How the First Letter… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would have happened if Taffy had drawn the spear once, small and clear, beside Mummy? Test 3 · ★ 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 dependency tree and p
---

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would have happened if Taffy had drawn the spear once, small and clear, beside Mummy?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Taffy · **What happens:** happen, draw · **To what, where:** spear, Mummy

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ 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/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t3:1
# text = What would have happened if Taffy had drawn the spear once, small and clear, beside Mummy?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux	_	_
4	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	drawn	draw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	clear	clear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	beside	beside	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	Mummy	Mummy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would · perfect |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **draw** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | Taffy | the spear |  | Mummy |  | once *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spear=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
The Tribe would certainly not have come, and everyone would have understood at once

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t3:o1:1
# text = The Tribe would certainly not have come, and everyone would have understood at once
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Tribe	Tribe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
4	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
6	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux	_	_
7	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	aux	_	_
13	understood	understand	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	13	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **come** | would · perfect | the Tribe |  |  |  |  | certainly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **understand** | would · perfect · passive |  | everyone |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing could ever be misread

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t3:o2:1
# text = Nothing could ever be misread
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	misread	misread	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 | **misread** | could · passive |  | Nothing |  |  | ever |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Teshumai would have written back

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t3:o3:1
# text = Teshumai would have written back
1	Teshumai	Teshumai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux	_	_
4	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	back	back	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write back** | would · perfect · passive |  | Teshumai |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Perhaps less fright, but a picture could still be misread

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t3:o4:1
# text = Perhaps less fright, but a picture could still be misread
1	Perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	amod	_	_
3	fright	fright	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
5	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	picture	picture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
9	still	still	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	misread	misread	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **misread** | could · passive | less fright *not said here* | a picture |  |  | still |  | tree rules |

<!-- 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 -->

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- ← previous: [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/t2/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/t4/)
- ↑ 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/)