---
title: Why do you think many peoples tell flood stories? — Mesopotamia: the first cities and writ… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do you think many peoples tell flood stories? Test 8 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 8 · Mesopotamia: the first cities and writing

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do you think many peoples tell flood stories?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, many peoples · **What happens:** think, tell · **To what, where:** flood stories · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t8:1
# text = Why do you think many peoples tell flood stories?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	peoples	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	tell	tell	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
8	flood	flood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | present · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | many peoples | flood stories |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent story=Recipient |

<!-- .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 -->
Every land had the same king

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t8:o1:1
# text = Every land had the same king
1	Every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | every land | the same king |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent king=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Someone sent one book round the whole world long ago

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t8:o2:1
# text = Someone sent one book round the whole world long ago
1	Someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	round	round	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	10	advmod	_	_
10	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | past | Someone | one book |  |  |  | round the whole world; ago *property* | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent book=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Floods never happened anywhere

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t8:o3:1
# text = Floods never happened anywhere
1	Floods	flood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	anywhere	anywhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **happen** | past | Floods |  |  |  |  | anywhere *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Real floods were big, scary events for river peoples

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t8:o4:1
# text = Real floods were big, scary events for river peoples
1	Real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	floods	flood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	scary	scary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	events	event	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	peoples	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Real floods |  |  |  |  | big *property* | tree rules |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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