---
title: If a hunter-gatherer band had no fire in the Ice Age, what would be… — The first people: hunters, gatherers a… · tree and pragmatics
description: If a hunter-gatherer band had no fire in the Ice Age, what would be hardest? Test 4 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
---

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# Test 4 · The first people: hunters, gatherers and cave painters

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If a hunter-gatherer band had no fire in the Ice Age, what would be hardest?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** gatherer band · **What happens:** have, be · **To what, where:** fire, Ice Age

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:1-the-first-people:t4:1
# text = If a hunter-gatherer band had no fire in the Ice Age, what would be hardest?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
3	hunter	hunter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	gatherer	gatherer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	band	band	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
9	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	Ice	Ice	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	Age	Age	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	18	obj	_	_
16	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	cop	_	_
18	hardest	hard	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	13	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | a gatherer band | no fire |  |  | in the Ice Age |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fire=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | would |  |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Keeping warm through the freezing nights

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:1-the-first-people:t4:o1:1
# text = Keeping warm through the freezing nights
1	Keeping	keep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	xcomp	_	_
3	through	through	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	freezing	freezing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | gerund |  |  |  |  | night | warm *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Writing down their stories in books

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:1-the-first-people:t4:o2:1
# text = Writing down their stories in books
1	Writing	write	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	down	down	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	books	book	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write down** | gerund |  | their stories |  | books |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent story=Theme in book=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Finding enough sand to play in by the river

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:1-the-first-people:t4:o3:1
# text = Finding enough sand to play in by the river
1	Finding	find	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	enough	enough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	xcomp	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | gerund |  | enough sand |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent sand=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 2 | **play in** | to-infinitive | enough sand *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by the river | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Keeping their pots clean

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:1-the-first-people:t4:o4:1
# text = Keeping their pots clean
1	Keeping	keep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	pots	pot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	clean	clean	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | gerund |  | their pots |  |  |  | clean *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pot=Theme |

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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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