---
title: The Vedas were not written down for centuries. How did they survive? — Ancient India: the Indus cities and th… · tree and pragmatics
description: The Vedas were not written down for centuries. How did they survive? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 7 «Ancient India: the Indus cities and the first kingdoms» 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 right.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/7-ancient-india-the-indus-cities-and-the-first-kingdoms/t7/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [History](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/) / [Ancient India: the Indus cities and th…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/7-ancient-india-the-indus-cities-and-the-first-kingdoms/) / t7

# Test 7 · ★ · Ancient India: the Indus cities and the first kingdoms

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Vedas were not written down for centuries. How did they survive?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Vedas · **What happens:** not write down, survive · **To what, where:** Vedas

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 7 «Ancient India: the Indus cities and the first kingdoms» 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/7-ancient-india-the-indus-cities-and-the-first-kingdoms/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* The Vedas were not written down for centuries.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:7-ancient-india-the-indus-cities-and-the-first-kingdoms:t7:1
# text = The Vedas were not written down for centuries.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Vedas	Veda	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	down	down	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	centuries	century	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **write down** | past · passive |  | the Vedas |  |  | century |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- .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 did they survive?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:7-ancient-india-the-indus-cities-and-the-first-kingdoms:t7:2
# text = How did they survive?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	survive	survive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **survive** | past · do-support | Vedas *= veda* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They did not survive at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:7-ancient-india-the-indus-cities-and-the-first-kingdoms:t7:o1:1
# text = They did not survive at all
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	survive	survive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **survive** | past · do-support | They |  |  | all |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at all=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were kept in a cave as painted pictures on the walls

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:7-ancient-india-the-indus-cities-and-the-first-kingdoms:t7:o2:1
# text = They were kept in a cave as painted pictures on the walls
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	painted	paint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	amod	_	_
9	pictures	picture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | past · passive |  | They |  | a cave |  | as painted pictures; on the walls | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in cave=Location |
| 2 | **paint** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
People learned them by heart and recited them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:7-ancient-india-the-indus-cities-and-the-first-kingdoms:t7:o3:1
# text = People learned them by heart and recited them
1	People	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	learned	learn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	recited	recite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | past | People | them *= they* |  |  |  | by heart | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Topic |
| 2 | **recite** | past | People *not said here* | People |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were sung only by birds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:7-ancient-india-the-indus-cities-and-the-first-kingdoms:t7:o4:1
# text = They were sung only by birds
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	sung	sing	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | past · passive | birds | They |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location subject=Theme |

<!-- 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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Ancient India: the Indus cities and th…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/7-ancient-india-the-indus-cities-and-the-first-kingdoms/t6/)
- next →: [Ancient India: the Indus cities and th…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/7-ancient-india-the-indus-cities-and-the-first-kingdoms/t8/)
- ↑ back to [Ancient India: the Indus cities and the first kingdoms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/7-ancient-india-the-indus-cities-and-the-first-kingdoms/)