---
title: Before writing came to Australia, how could a person find their way… — Australia and New Zealand: a short story · tree and pragmatics
description: Before writing came to Australia, how could a person find their way across hundreds of kilometres? Test 3 · ★★★ of lesson 40 «Australia and New Zealand: 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 c
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story/t3/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [History](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/) / [Australia and New Zealand: a short story](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story/) / t3

# Test 3 · ★★★ · Australia and New Zealand: a short story

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Before writing came to Australia, how could a person find their way across hundreds of kilometres?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** person · **What happens:** come, find · **To what, where:** Australia, way, hundreds

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★★★ of lesson 40 «Australia and New Zealand: 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/40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t3:1
# text = Before writing came to Australia, how could a person find their way across hundreds of kilometres?
1	Before	before	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Australia	Australia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	across	across	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	hundreds	hundred	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	kilometres	kilometre	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past |  |  |  | Australia | before writing |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to australia=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **find** | could | a person | their way |  | hundreds of kilometres |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
They could not travel at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t3:o1:1
# text = They could not travel at all
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	travel	travel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **travel** | could | They |  |  | all |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at all=Trajectory |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By reading street signs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t3:o2:1
# text = By reading street signs
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	reading	read	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	street	street	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	signs	sign	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** | gerund |  | street signs |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sign=Topic |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By following a songline that carries the map of the land

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t3:o3:1
# text = By following a songline that carries the map of the land
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	songline	songline	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	carries	carry	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	map	map	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  | a songline |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent songline=Theme |
| 2 | **carry** | present | a songline | the map of the land |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent map=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By using a compass and a paper map brought over from Britain

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t3:o4:1
# text = By using a compass and a paper map brought over from Britain
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	using	use	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	compass	compass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	paper	paper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	map	map	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
9	brought	bring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	over	over	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Britain	Britain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | gerund |  | a compass and a paper map |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent compass=Patient |
| 2 | **bring over** | past |  |  |  | Britain |  | over *property* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent from britain=Initial\_Location |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Australia and New Zealand: a short story, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story/t2/)
- next →: [Australia and New Zealand: a short story, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story/t4/)
- ↑ back to [Australia and New Zealand: a short story](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story/)