---
title: Some British settlers spoke of Australia as nobody's land. How does… — Australia and New Zealand: a short story · tree and pragmatics
description: Some British settlers spoke of Australia as nobody's land. How does very old rock art prove them wrong? Test 8 · ★★★ 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; Mov
---

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# Test 8 · ★★★ · Australia and New Zealand: a short story

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Some British settlers spoke of Australia as nobody's land. How does very old rock art prove them wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** British settlers, old rock art · **What happens:** speak, prove · **To what, where:** settlers · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Some British settlers spoke of Australia as nobody's land.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t8:1
# text = Some British settlers spoke of Australia as nobody's land.
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
2	British	British	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	settlers	settler	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Australia	Australia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | some British settlers |  |  |  |  | of Australia; as nobody's land | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* How does very old rock art prove them wrong?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t8:2
# text = How does very old rock art prove them wrong?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	art	art	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	prove	prove	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prove** | present · do-support | old rock art | settlers *= settler* |  |  |  | wrong *property* | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They prove nothing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t8:o1:1
# text = They prove nothing
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	prove	prove	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prove** | present | They | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The art was painted in 1788

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t8:o2:1
# text = The art was painted in 1788
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	art	art	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	painted	paint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	1788	1788	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **paint** | past · passive |  | the art |  | 1788 |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme PP.destination»: subject=Theme in 1788=Destination |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They show people had lived there for a very long time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t8:o3:1
# text = They show people had lived there for a very long time
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	show	show	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	lived	live	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	ccomp	_	_
6	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **live** | past · perfect | people |  |  | there | time |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rock art is made by nature alone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:40-australia-and-new-zealand-a-short-story:t8:o4:1
# text = Rock art is made by nature alone
1	Rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	art	art	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · passive | nature | Rock art |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset subject=Product |

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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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