---
title: What would have happened if farming had never begun? — How we got here: the big steps on one… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would have happened if farming had never begun? Test 9 of lesson 61 «How we got here: the big steps on one long timeline» 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 9 · How we got here: the big steps on one long timeline

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would have happened if farming had never begun?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** farming · **What happens:** happen, not begin

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 of lesson 61 «How we got here: the big steps on one long timeline» 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/61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline:t9:1
# text = What would have happened if farming had never begun?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux	_	_
4	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	farming	farming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	begun	begin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would · perfect |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **begin** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | farming |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dinosaurs would still be alive and ruling Earth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline:t9:o1:1
# text = Dinosaurs would still be alive and ruling Earth
1	Dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	still	still	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
5	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	ruling	rule	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
8	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | Dinosaurs |  |  |  | still | alive *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **rule** | gerund | Dinosaurs *not said here* | Earth |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent earth=Result |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
More people than today, all of them hunters

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline:t9:o2:1
# text = More people than today, all of them hunters
1	More	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	amod	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	than	than	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	nsubj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nmod	_	_
9	hunters	hunter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hunter** |  | all |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Exactly the same number of cities as today

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline:t9:o3:1
# text = Exactly the same number of cities as today
1	Exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	cities	city	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Far fewer people, and no big towns or cities

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline:t9:o4:1
# text = Far fewer people, and no big towns or cities
1	Far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
2	fewer	few	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	amod	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	8	det	_	_
7	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	towns	town	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	cities	city	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
```

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

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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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- ← previous: [How we got here: the big steps on one…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline/t8/)
- next →: [How we got here: the big steps on one…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline/t10/)
- ↑ back to [How we got here: the big steps on one long timeline](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline/)