---
title: Turn a capital A upside down. Which old picture might you see? — How writing began: from tally marks an… · tree and pragmatics
description: Turn a capital A upside down. Which old picture might you see? Test 4 · ★★ 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 option; Mova's choice was wro
---

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# Test 4 · ★★ · How writing began: from tally marks and pictures to the al…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Turn a capital A upside down. Which old picture might you see?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, old picture · **What happens:** turn, see · **To what, where:** capital

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★★ of lesson 82 «How writing began: from tally marks and pictures to the alphabet» 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/82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Turn a capital A upside down.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:t4:1
# text = Turn a capital A upside down.
1	Turn	turn	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	capital	capital	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	upside	upside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
6	down	down	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | imperative | you *not said here* | a capital |  |  |  | down *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP ADJ.result»: agent=Agent capital=Theme upside=Result |

<!-- .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:* Which old picture might you see?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:t4:2
# text = Which old picture might you see?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	obj	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	picture	picture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | might | old picture |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer which=Stimulus |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A fish with its mouth open

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:t4:o1:1
# text = A fish with its mouth open
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An ox's head with two horns

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:t4:o2:1
# text = An ox's head with two horns
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ox	ox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	horns	horn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A snake curled round an egg

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:t4:o3:1
# text = A snake curled round an egg
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	curled	curl	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	round	round	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	egg	egg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **curl** | participle |  | a snake *not said here* |  | a egg |  |  | vn coil-9.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme round egg=Destination |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A house with a door

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:t4:o4:1
# text = A house with a door
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	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.

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