---
title: Ava's Missouri uncle: "Y'all, there wasn't nothin' here but prairie… — Cities then and now: the biggest citie… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ava's Missouri uncle: "Y'all, there wasn't nothin' here but prairie before St Louis." ("Y'all" means you all.) What does Cahokia show? Test 8 of lesson 74 «Cities then and now: the biggest cities of every age and of today» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and 
---

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# Test 8 · Cities then and now: the biggest cities of every age and o…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ava's Missouri uncle: "Y'all, there wasn't nothin' here but prairie before St Louis." ("Y'all" means you all.) What does Cahokia show?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Missouri uncle, Y'all, Cahokia · **What happens:** be, mean, show · **To what, where:** you

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 of lesson 74 «Cities then and now: the biggest cities of every age and of today» 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/74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Ava's Missouri uncle: "Y'all, there wasn't nothin' here but prairie before St Louis."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t8:1
# text = Ava's Missouri uncle: "Y'all, there wasn't nothin' here but prairie before St Louis."
1	Ava	Ava	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	Missouri	Missouri	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Y'all	Y'all	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	10	expl	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	nothin	nothin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
14	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	0	root	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	prairie	prairie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
17	before	before	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	St	St	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	Louis	Louis	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | past | Ava's Missouri uncle |  |  |  |  | here *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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:* ("Y'all" means you all.)

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t8:2
# text = ("Y'all" means you all.)
1	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Y'all	Y'all	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
5	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Y'all | you |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Topic |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* What does Cahokia show?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t8:3
# text = What does Cahokia show?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	Cahokia	Cahokia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	show	show	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 | **show** | present · do-support | Cahokia |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent what=Recipient |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A big city of maybe 10,000 to 20,000 people stood nearby around 1100

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t8:o1:1
# text = A big city of maybe 10,000 to 20,000 people stood nearby around 1100
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
5	maybe	maybe	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	10,000	10000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	20,000	20000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	6	nmod	_	_
9	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
10	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	nearby	nearby	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	around	around	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	1100	1100	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past | a big city of 10,000 people |  |  | 1100 |  | nearby *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent around 1100=Location |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cahokia was built by the French in 1900

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t8:o2:1
# text = Cahokia was built by the French in 1900
1	Cahokia	Cahokia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	built	build	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	French	French	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	obl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	1900	1900	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | past · passive |  | Cahokia |  | 1900 |  | by the French | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He is right: no one at all lived there before the French came in the 1700s

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t8:o3:1
# text = He is right: no one at all lived there before the French came in the 1700s
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	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	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	nmod	_	_
9	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
10	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	9	advmod	_	_
11	before	before	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	French	French	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
14	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	1700s	1700	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	14	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | He |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **live** | past | no one at all |  |  | the French; there |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme before french=Location |
| 3 | **come** | past | right |  |  | the 1700s |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in 1700=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cahokia was a Roman camp

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t8:o4:1
# text = Cahokia was a Roman camp
1	Cahokia	Cahokia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	Roman	roman	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	camp	camp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Cahokia | a Roman camp |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- 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 -->

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