---
title: Real life: when did writing reach Britain? — Just So Stories, How the First Letter… · tree and pragmatics
description: Real life: when did writing reach Britain? Test 8 · ★ 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 pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mo
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3:…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Real life: when did writing reach Britain?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** write, reach · **To what, where:** Britain

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t8:1
# text = Real life: when did writing reach Britain?
1	Real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
5	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	writing	write	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
7	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
8	Britain	Britain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | past · do-support |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **reach** | infinitive |  | Britain |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent britain=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 -->
It never did

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t8:o1:1
# text = It never did
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **do** | past | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
200 years ago

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t8:o2:1
# text = 200 years ago
1	200	200	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
With the Romans, about 2,000 years ago

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t8:o3:1
# text = With the Romans, about 2,000 years ago
1	With	with	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Romans	Roman	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	about	about	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	2,000	2000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
8	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In the Stone Age, with Taffy and her Daddy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention:t8:o4:1
# text = In the Stone Age, with Taffy and her Daddy
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	Stone	Stone	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	Age	Age	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	flat	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	Daddy	daddy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .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.

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- ← previous: [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/t7/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, How the First Letter…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/86-justso-first-letter-3-a-great-invention/t9/)
- ↑ 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/)