---
title: If India had never invented zero as a number, what would be harder t… — Ancient India: Ashoka, zero and our nu… · tree and pragmatics
description: If India had never invented zero as a number, what would be harder today? Test 5 · ★★★ of lesson 8 «Ancient India: Ashoka, zero and our numbers» 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/8-ancient-india-ashoka-zero-and-our-numbers/t5/)

<!-- 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: Ashoka, zero and our nu…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/8-ancient-india-ashoka-zero-and-our-numbers/) / t5

# Test 5 · ★★★ · Ancient India: Ashoka, zero and our numbers

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If India had never invented zero as a number, what would be harder today?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** India, number · **What happens:** not invent, be · **To what, where:** zero

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★★★ of lesson 8 «Ancient India: Ashoka, zero and our numbers» 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/8-ancient-india-ashoka-zero-and-our-numbers/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:8-ancient-india-ashoka-zero-and-our-numbers:t5:1
# text = If India had never invented zero as a number, what would be harder today?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	India	India	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	invented	invent	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	zero	zero	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	obj	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	nsubj	_	_
12	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	cop	_	_
14	harder	hard	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	acl:relcl	_	_
15	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **invent** | past · perfect | India | zero |  |  | today | as a number | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent zero=Result as number=Attribute |
| 2 | **is** | would | a number |  |  |  |  | hard *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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Writing big numbers and doing sums

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:8-ancient-india-ashoka-zero-and-our-numbers:t5:o1:1
# text = Writing big numbers and doing sums
1	Writing	write	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	numbers	number	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	conj	_	_
6	sums	sum	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | gerund |  | big numbers |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=Theme |
| 2 | **do** | gerund |  | sums |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sum=Eventuality |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Playing football

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:8-ancient-india-ashoka-zero-and-our-numbers:t5:o2:1
# text = Playing football
1	Playing	play	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	0	root	_	_
2	football	football	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | gerund |  | football |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent football=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Building pillars

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:8-ancient-india-ashoka-zero-and-our-numbers:t5:o3:1
# text = Building pillars
1	Building	building	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	pillars	pillar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Growing pepper

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:8-ancient-india-ashoka-zero-and-our-numbers:t5:o4:1
# text = Growing pepper
1	Growing	grow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	amod	_	_
2	pepper	pepper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=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: Ashoka, zero and our nu…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/8-ancient-india-ashoka-zero-and-our-numbers/t4/)
- next →: [Ancient India: Ashoka, zero and our nu…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/8-ancient-india-ashoka-zero-and-our-numbers/t6/)
- ↑ back to [Ancient India: Ashoka, zero and our numbers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/8-ancient-india-ashoka-zero-and-our-numbers/)