---
title: Which is true about when people started talking? — The first people: hunters, gatherers a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which is true about when people started talking? Test 10 of lesson 1 «The first people: hunters, gatherers and cave painters» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/1-the-first-people/t10/)

<!-- 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/) / [History](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/) / [The first people: hunters, gatherers a…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/1-the-first-people/) / t10

# Test 10 · The first people: hunters, gatherers and cave painters

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which is true about when people started talking?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** people · **What happens:** be, start, talk

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 of lesson 1 «The first people: hunters, gatherers and cave painters» of the history 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/history/1-the-first-people/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:1-the-first-people:t10:1
# text = Which is true about when people started talking?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	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	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
6	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **start** | past | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **talk** | gerund | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Language began exactly 5,000 years ago, in Egypt

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:1-the-first-people:t10:o1:1
# text = Language began exactly 5,000 years ago, in Egypt
1	Language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	5,000	5000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | Language |  |  | Egypt |  | ago *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
People only grunted until farming began

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:1-the-first-people:t10:o2:1
# text = People only grunted until farming began
1	People	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	grunted	grunt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	farming	farming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grunt** | past | People |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **begin** | past | farming |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Talking was invented by the Romans

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:1-the-first-people:t10:o3:1
# text = Talking was invented by the Romans
1	Talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	csubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	invented	invent	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Romans	Roman	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	3	obl:agent	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **invent** | past · passive | the Romans |  |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody knows exactly when language began

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:1-the-first-people:t10:o4:1
# text = Nobody knows exactly when language began
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	nsubj	_	_
2	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
5	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | Nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **begin** | past | language |  |  |  |  | exactly *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

<!-- 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: [The first people: hunters, gatherers a…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/1-the-first-people/t9/)
- next →: [The first people: hunters, gatherers a…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/1-the-first-people/t11/)
- ↑ back to [The first people: hunters, gatherers and cave painters](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/1-the-first-people/)