---
title: ★★★ Real life: the Phoenician alphabet had 22 letters and English ha… — Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was… · tree and pragmatics
description: ★★★ Real life: the Phoenician alphabet had 22 letters and English has 26. Which three letters did English add only in the last thousand years? Test 18 · ★★ of lesson 89 «Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 3: «the Alphabet, all complete», and how letters really began» of the books cours
---

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# Test 18 · ★★ · Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 3: «the A…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
★★★ Real life: the Phoenician alphabet had 22 letters and English has 26. Which three letters did English add only in the last thousand years?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** ★, English, three letters · **What happens:** have, add · **To what, where:** 22 letters, 26

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This is test 18 · ★★ of lesson 89 «Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 3: «the Alphabet, all complete», and how letters really began» 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/89-justso-alphabet-3-the-alphabet-all-complete/#t18).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* ★★★ Real life: the Phoenician alphabet had 22 letters and English has 26.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:89-justso-alphabet-3-the-alphabet-all-complete:t18:1
# text = ★★★ Real life: the Phoenician alphabet had 22 letters and English has 26.
1	★	★	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	★	★	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	1	dep	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	★	★	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	Real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	Phoenician	phoenician	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	22	22	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
16	26	26	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | ★ | 22 letters |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent letter=Patient |
| 2 | **have** | present | English | 26 |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent 26=Patient |

<!-- .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:* Which three letters did English add only in the last thousand years?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:89-justso-alphabet-3-the-alphabet-all-complete:t18:2
# text = Which three letters did English add only in the last thousand years?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	obj	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	add	add	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
11	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **add** *speech: assert* | past · do-support | three letters |  |  |  | year |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Patient |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
J, U and W

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:89-justso-alphabet-3-the-alphabet-all-complete:t18:o1:1
# text = J, U and W
1	J	J	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	U	U	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	W	W	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
J, U and W, all in the last thousand years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:89-justso-alphabet-3-the-alphabet-all-complete:t18:o2:1
# text = J, U and W, all in the last thousand years
1	J	J	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	U	U	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	W	W	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	all	all	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
11	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	parataxis	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
J, U, W and Y, added in the last thousand years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:89-justso-alphabet-3-the-alphabet-all-complete:t18:o3:1
# text = J, U, W and Y, added in the last thousand years
1	J	J	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	U	U	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	W	W	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	Y	Y	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	added	add	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	acl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
13	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **add** *speech: assert* | participle |  | J and U *not said here* |  |  | year |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
J, U and Y

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:89-justso-alphabet-3-the-alphabet-all-complete:t18:o4:1
# text = J, U and Y
1	J	J	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	U	U	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	Y	Y	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	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 Alphabet Was…, test 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/89-justso-alphabet-3-the-alphabet-all-complete/t17/)
- next →: [Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/89-justso-alphabet-3-the-alphabet-all-complete/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 3: «the Alphabet, all complete», and how letters really began](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/89-justso-alphabet-3-the-alphabet-all-complete/)