---
title: Kipling ends: very few little girls like learning to read or write.… — Just So Stories, How the First Letter… · tree and pragmatics
description: Kipling ends: very few little girls like learning to read or write. What should we say about that today? Test 5 · ★ 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 depende
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/t5/)

<!-- 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/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/) / t5

# Test 5 · ★ · Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3:…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Kipling ends: very few little girls like learning to read or write. What should we say about that today?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Kipling, few little girls, we · **What happens:** end, learn, read, write, say · **To what, where:** few little girls · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ 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/#t5).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Kipling ends: very few little girls like learning to read or write.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t5:1
# text = Kipling ends: very few little girls like learning to read or write.
1	Kipling	Kipling	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	ends	end	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
8	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	learning	learn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	read	read	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	write	write	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **end** | present | Kipling | few little girls |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **learn** | gerund | few little girls *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **read** | to-infinitive | few little girls *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **write** | infinitive | few little girls *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What should we say about that today?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t5:2
# text = What should we say about that today?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obl	_	_
7	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | should | we |  |  |  | today | about that | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a real law

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t5:o1:1
# text = It is a real law
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a real law |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is an old idea that is wrong: girls read and write as well as boys

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t5:o2:1
# text = It is an old idea that is wrong: girls read and write as well as boys
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
10	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
11	read	read	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	write	write	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
14	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADV	13	advmod	_	_
15	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	14	fixed	_	_
16	as	as	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a old idea |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | a old idea |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **read** | present | girls |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **write** | present | girls *not said here* |  |  |  |  | as boys | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as boy=Attribute |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is true even today, which is why most writers in the world are men

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t5:o3:1
# text = It is true even today, which is why most writers in the world are men
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	even	even	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	parataxis	_	_
10	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	11	amod	_	_
11	writers	writer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  | today | true *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | why *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | present | most writers in the world | men |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is about beavers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t5:o4:1
# text = It is about beavers
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	about	about	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	beavers	beaver	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | about beavers | 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [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/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/t6/)
- ↑ 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/)