---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Mesopotamia: the first cities and writ… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the original purpose of Sumerian writing? Exam question 2 of lesson 3 «Mesopotamia: the first cities and writing» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option
---

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# Exam question 2 · Mesopotamia: the first cities and writing

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the original purpose of Sumerian writing?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Sumerian writing · **What happens:** follow, characteris, purpose · **To what, where:** original purpose

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 3 «Mesopotamia: the first cities and writing» of the history course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:e2:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the original purpose of Sumerian writing?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	original	original	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	Sumerian	sumerian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the original purpose of Sumerian writing |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **purpose** |  | Sumerian writing |  |  |  |  |  | nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: of=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The correspondence of private persons

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:e2:o1:1
# text = The correspondence of private persons
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	correspondence	correspondence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	private	private	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	persons	person	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **correspond** |  | private persons |  |  |  |  |  | nom correspondence «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The composition of epic poetry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:e2:o2:1
# text = The composition of epic poetry
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	composition	composition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	epic	epic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	poetry	poetry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The recording of quantities of grain and livestock

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:e2:o3:1
# text = The recording of quantities of grain and livestock
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	recording	recording	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	quantities	quantity	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	livestock	livestock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The proclamation of royal laws

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:e2:o4:1
# text = The proclamation of royal laws
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	proclamation	proclamation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	royal	royal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	laws	law	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **proclaim** |  |  | royal laws |  |  |  |  | nom proclamation «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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: [Mesopotamia: the first cities and writ…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing/e1/)
- next →: [Mesopotamia: the first cities and writ…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Mesopotamia: the first cities and writing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing/)