---
title: «most ppl couldnt read back then right?» asks Isla. What is right? — Writing, laws and money: how strangers… · tree and pragmatics
description: «most ppl couldnt read back then right?» asks Isla. What is right? Test 2 · ★ 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 2 · ★ · Writing, laws and money: how strangers learned to trust ea…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«most ppl couldnt read back then right?» asks Isla. What is right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** ppl couldnt, Isla · **What happens:** read, ask, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★ 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/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «most ppl couldnt read back then right?» asks Isla.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:63-writing-laws-and-money-how-strangers-learned-to-trust-each-other:t2:1
# text = «most ppl couldnt read back then right?» asks Isla.
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	3	amod	_	_
3	ppl	people	NOUN	NNS	Abbr=Yes|Number=Plur	4	compound	_	_
4	couldnt	couldnt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	read	read	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
6	back	back	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
8	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
11	asks	ask	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	Isla	Isla	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** *in a quote* | past | ppl couldnt |  |  |  |  | right *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | Isla |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «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:* What is right?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:63-writing-laws-and-money-how-strangers-learned-to-trust-each-other:t2:2
# text = What is right?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, reading was banned for everyone except kings

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:63-writing-laws-and-money-how-strangers-learned-to-trust-each-other:t2:o1:1
# text = No, reading was banned for everyone except kings
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	reading	reading	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	banned	ban	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	5	obl	_	_
8	except	except	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	kings	king	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ban** | past · passive |  | reading |  |  |  | for everyone | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Right, and still nobody can read today

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:63-writing-laws-and-money-how-strangers-learned-to-trust-each-other:t2:o2:1
# text = Right, and still nobody can read today
1	Right	right	INTJ	UH	_	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
4	still	still	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	7	nsubj	_	_
6	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	read	read	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** | can | nobody |  |  |  | still; today |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, nearly everyone could read, even in the villages

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:63-writing-laws-and-money-how-strangers-learned-to-trust-each-other:t2:o3:1
# text = No, nearly everyone could read, even in the villages
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	6	nsubj	_	_
5	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	read	read	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	even	even	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	villages	village	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Right; around 1820 only about one adult in eight could

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:63-writing-laws-and-money-how-strangers-learned-to-trust-each-other:t2:o4:1
# text = Right; around 1820 only about one adult in eight could
1	Right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
3	around	around	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	1820	1820	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	1	obl	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	about	about	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	adult	adult	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	eight	eight	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nmod	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ↑ 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/)