---
title: Your friend says Jamestown was the first European town in what is no… — The United States: a short story · tree and pragmatics
description: Your friend says Jamestown was the first European town in what is now the USA. Is he right? Test 5 · ★★ of lesson 38 «The United States: a short story» 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 5 · ★★ · The United States: a short story

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Your friend says Jamestown was the first European town in what is now the USA. Is he right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** friend, Jamestown · **What happens:** say, be · **To what, where:** first European town, USA · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★★ of lesson 38 «The United States: a short story» 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/38-the-united-states-a-short-story/#t5).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Your friend says Jamestown was the first European town in what is now the USA.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:38-the-united-states-a-short-story:t5:1
# text = Your friend says Jamestown was the first European town in what is now the USA.
1	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
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	Jamestown	Jamestown	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	9	amod	_	_
8	European	European	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nmod	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	USA	USA	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Your friend |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past | Jamestown | the first European town |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  | the USA |  |  | now |  | 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Is he right?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:38-the-united-states-a-short-story:t5:2
# text = Is he right?
1	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Jamestown |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, Boston was founded in 1066

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:38-the-united-states-a-short-story:t5:o1:1
# text = No, Boston was founded in 1066
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	Boston	Boston	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	founded	found	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	1066	1066	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **found** | past · passive |  | Boston |  | 1066 |  |  | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, it was New York in 1200

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:38-the-united-states-a-short-story:t5:o2:1
# text = No, it was New York in 1200
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	New	New	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	flat	_	_
6	York	York	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	1200	1200	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | it | New |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, the Spanish town of St. Augustine is older, from 1565

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:38-the-united-states-a-short-story:t5:o3:1
# text = No, the Spanish town of St. Augustine is older, from 1565
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	10	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	St.	St.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod:desc	_	_
8	Augustine	Augustine	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	1565	1565	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the Spanish town of Augustine  St. |  |  | 1565 |  | old *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, nothing in North America was older than Jamestown

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:38-the-united-states-a-short-story:t5:o4:1
# text = Yes, nothing in North America was older than Jamestown
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	8	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	North	North	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	America	America	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
9	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Jamestown	Jamestown	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | nothing |  |  |  |  | than Jamestown; old *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.

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