---
title: Identify the material upon which the earliest known Chinese writing… — China: five thousand years and the old… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the material upon which the earliest known Chinese writing was inscribed. Exam question 2 of lesson 51 «China: five thousand years and the oldest dynasties» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's cho
---

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# Exam question 2 · China: five thousand years and the oldest dynasties

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the material upon which the earliest known Chinese writing was inscribed.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, know, inscribe · **To what, where:** material, earliest known Chinese writing

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 51 «China: five thousand years and the oldest dynasties» of the history course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/51-china-five-thousand-years-the-oldest-dynasties/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:51-china-five-thousand-years-the-oldest-dynasties:e2:1
# text = Identify the material upon which the earliest known Chinese writing was inscribed.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	material	material	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	obl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
7	earliest	early	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	10	amod	_	_
8	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	amod	_	_
9	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	inscribed	inscribe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the material |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent material=Theme |
| 2 | **know** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **inscribe** | past · passive |  | the earliest known Chinese writing |  | the material |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme PP.destination»: subject=Theme upon which=Destination |

<!-- .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 -->
Sheets of paper manufactured by Cai Lun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:51-china-five-thousand-years-the-oldest-dynasties:e2:o1:1
# text = Sheets of paper manufactured by Cai Lun
1	Sheets	sheet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	paper	paper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
4	manufactured	manufacture	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	Cai	Cai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	Lun	Lun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **manufacture** | participle | Sheets of paper |  |  |  |  | by Cai Lun | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Silk banners of the Ming court

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:51-china-five-thousand-years-the-oldest-dynasties:e2:o2:1
# text = Silk banners of the Ming court
1	Silk	silk	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	banners	banner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	Ming	Ming	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	court	court	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Turtle shells and ox bones employed for divination

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:51-china-five-thousand-years-the-oldest-dynasties:e2:o3:1
# text = Turtle shells and ox bones employed for divination
1	Turtle	turtle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	shells	shell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
4	ox	ox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
6	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	divination	divination	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **employ** | participle |  | Turtle shells and ox bones *not said here* |  |  |  | for divination | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: agent=Agent for divination=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Clay tablets imported from Mesopotamia

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:51-china-five-thousand-years-the-oldest-dynasties:e2:o4:1
# text = Clay tablets imported from Mesopotamia
1	Clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	tablets	tablet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	imported	import	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Mesopotamia	Mesopotamia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **import** | participle |  | Clay tablets *not said here* |  | Mesopotamia |  |  | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent from mesopotamia=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.

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- ↑ back to [China: five thousand years and the oldest dynasties](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/51-china-five-thousand-years-the-oldest-dynasties/)