---
title: A friend says writing began with poems and stories. What really came… — Mesopotamia: the first cities and writ… · tree and pragmatics
description: A friend says writing began with poems and stories. What really came first? Test 4 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; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 4 · Mesopotamia: the first cities and writing

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A friend says writing began with poems and stories. What really came first?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** friend, writing · **What happens:** say, begin, come · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 4 of lesson 3 «Mesopotamia: the first cities and writing» 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/3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A friend says writing began with poems and stories.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t4:1
# text = A friend says writing began with poems and stories.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	poems	poem	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a friend |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **begin** | past | writing |  |  |  |  | with poems and stories | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with poem=Subeventuality |

<!-- .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:* What really came first?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t4:2
# text = What really came first?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	obj	_	_
2	really	really	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past |  |  |  |  |  | first *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location what=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Road signs for carts

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t4:o1:1
# text = Road signs for carts
1	Road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	signs	sign	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	carts	cart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Long poems about the gods

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t4:o2:1
# text = Long poems about the gods
1	Long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	poems	poem	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	about	about	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lists counting grain and sheep

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t4:o3:1
# text = Lists counting grain and sheep
1	Lists	list	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
2	counting	count	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	1	acl	_	_
3	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **count** | gerund | Lists *not said here* | grain and sheep |  |  |  |  | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grain=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Letters to friends far away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t4:o4:1
# text = Letters to friends far away
1	Letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
4	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .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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