---
title: The Inca had no writing as we know it. How did they run a huge empire? — The Aztecs and the Inca · tree and pragmatics
description: The Inca had no writing as we know it. How did they run a huge empire? Test 3 · ★★★ of lesson 19 «The Aztecs and the Inca» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 3 · ★★★ · The Aztecs and the Inca

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Inca had no writing as we know it. How did they run a huge empire?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Inca, we, they · **What happens:** have, know, run · **To what, where:** writing, huge empire

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★★★ of lesson 19 «The Aztecs and the Inca» 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/19-the-aztecs-and-the-inca/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* The Inca had no writing as we know it.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:19-the-aztecs-and-the-inca:t3:1
# text = The Inca had no writing as we know it.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Inca	Inca	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the Inca | no writing |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent writing=Patient |
| 2 | **know** | present | we | writing |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |

<!-- .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:* How did they run a huge empire?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:19-the-aztecs-and-the-inca:t3:2
# text = How did they run a huge empire?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	empire	empire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | past · do-support | they | a huge empire |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme empire=Trajectory |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
With letters on paper

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:19-the-aztecs-and-the-inca:t3:o1:1
# text = With letters on paper
1	With	with	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	paper	paper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They did not run it at all; every town ruled itself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:19-the-aztecs-and-the-inca:t3:o2:1
# text = They did not run it at all; every town ruled itself
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
9	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	det	_	_
10	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	ruled	rule	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
12	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **run** | past · do-support | They | it |  | all |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent it=Theme at all=Trajectory |
| 2 | **rule** | past | every town | town |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent itself=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
With telephones on poles

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:19-the-aztecs-and-the-inca:t3:o3:1
# text = With telephones on poles
1	With	with	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	telephones	telephone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	poles	pole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
With quipu records, roads and fast relay runners

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:19-the-aztecs-and-the-inca:t3:o4:1
# text = With quipu records, roads and fast relay runners
1	With	with	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	quipu	quipu	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	records	record	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	roads	road	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	fast	fast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	relay	relay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	runners	runner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	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: [The Aztecs and the Inca, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/19-the-aztecs-and-the-inca/t2/)
- next →: [The Aztecs and the Inca, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/19-the-aztecs-and-the-inca/t4/)
- ↑ back to [The Aztecs and the Inca](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/19-the-aztecs-and-the-inca/)