---
title: what if no one could ever write anything down. what would we lose — Writing, laws and money: how strangers… · tree and pragmatics
description: what if no one could ever write anything down. what would we lose Test 11 · ★ of lesson 63 «Writing, laws and money: how strangers learned to trust each other» 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 wa
---

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# Test 11 · ★ · Writing, laws and money: how strangers learned to trust ea…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
what if no one could ever write anything down. what would we lose

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** one, we · **What happens:** write down, lose · **To what, where:** anything

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 63 «Writing, laws and money: how strangers learned to trust each other» 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/63-writing-laws-and-money-how-strangers-learned-to-trust-each-other/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:63-writing-laws-and-money-how-strangers-learned-to-trust-each-other:t11:1
# text = what if no one could ever write anything down. what would we lose
1	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	7	advmod	_	_
7	write	write	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
8	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	7	obj	_	_
9	down	down	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
11	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	obj	_	_
12	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write down** | could | no one | anything |  |  | ever |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Theme |
| 2 | **lose** | would | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, because people's memory is always perfect anyway, so who needs it

<!-- fold The tree, 13 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:63-writing-laws-and-money-how-strangers-learned-to-trust-each-other:t11:o1:1
# text = Nothing, because people's memory is always perfect anyway, so who needs it
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
3	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
4	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	memory	memory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	9	advmod	_	_
9	perfect	perfect	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	acl	_	_
10	anyway	anyway	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
14	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | people's memory |  |  |  |  | always, anyway, perfect *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **need** | present |  | memory |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot it=Theme |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Records, letters and laws that outlive the people who made them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:63-writing-laws-and-money-how-strangers-learned-to-trust-each-other:t11:o2:1
# text = Records, letters and laws that outlive the people who made them
1	Records	record	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	laws	law	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	outlive	outlive	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
11	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **outlive** | present | Records and letters and laws | the people |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** | past | the people | people |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only maths homework, and we would all be happier

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:63-writing-laws-and-money-how-strangers-learned-to-trust-each-other:t11:o3:1
# text = Only maths homework, and we would all be happier
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	maths	math	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	compound	_	_
3	homework	homework	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
6	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
7	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
8	all	all	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	cop	_	_
10	happier	happy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The ability to talk, since speech comes from writing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:63-writing-laws-and-money-how-strangers-learned-to-trust-each-other:t11:o4:1
# text = The ability to talk, since speech comes from writing
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ability	ability	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
6	since	since	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	speech	speech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
8	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | to-infinitive | the ability since speech *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **come** | present | the ability since speech |  |  | writing |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from writing=Initial\_Location |

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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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- next →: [Writing, laws and money: how strangers…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/63-writing-laws-and-money-how-strangers-learned-to-trust-each-other/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Writing, laws and money: how strangers learned to trust each other](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/63-writing-laws-and-money-how-strangers-learned-to-trust-each-other/)