---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — How writing began: from tally marks an… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the earliest alphabet? Exam question 2 of lesson 82 «How writing began: from tally marks and pictures to the alphabet» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each o
---

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# Exam question 2 · How writing began: from tally marks and pictures to the al…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the earliest alphabet?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** earliest alphabet

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 82 «How writing began: from tally marks and pictures to the alphabet» of the history course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:e2:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the earliest alphabet?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	earliest	early	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	11	amod	_	_
11	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the earliest alphabet |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Each sign denoted a vowel and never a consonant

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:e2:o1:1
# text = Each sign denoted a vowel and never a consonant
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	denoted	denote	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	vowel	vowel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	consonant	consonant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **denote** | past | each sign | a vowel and a consonant |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot vowel=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Each sign denoted an entire word or idea, as in the writing of China

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:e2:o2:1
# text = Each sign denoted an entire word or idea, as in the writing of China
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	denoted	denote	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	entire	entire	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	as	as	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **denote** | past | each sign | a entire word or idea |  |  |  | as the writing of China | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot word=Topic |
| 2 | **write** |  |  | China |  |  |  |  | nom writing «act transitive»: of=patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Picture-signs were employed solely for the first sound of their names

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:e2:o3:1
# text = Picture-signs were employed solely for the first sound of their names
1	Picture	picture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	signs	sign	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	solely	solely	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	10	amod	_	_
10	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	names	name	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **employ** | past · passive |  | Picture signs |  |  |  | for the first sound of signs's names; solely *property* | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: subject=Theme for sound=Eventuality |
| 2 | **name** |  | signs *= sign* |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It comprised several thousand signs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:e2:o4:1
# text = It comprised several thousand signs
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	comprised	comprise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	signs	sign	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **comprise** | past | It | thousand signs |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme sign=Pivot |

<!-- 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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- ↑ back to [How writing began: from tally marks and pictures to the alphabet](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet/)