---
title: «Chinese is just an alphabet with loads of letters innit» What is ri… — How writing began: from tally marks an… · tree and pragmatics
description: «Chinese is just an alphabet with loads of letters innit» What is right? Test 6 · ★★ 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 choi
---

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# Test 6 · ★★ · How writing began: from tally marks and pictures to the al…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«Chinese is just an alphabet with loads of letters innit» What is right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be, innit · **To what, where:** Chinese alphabet, letters · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★★ 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/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:t6:1
# text = «Chinese is just an alphabet with loads of letters innit» What is right?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	just	just	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	loads	load	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
11	innit	innit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
13	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	15	nsubj	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | a Chinese alphabet |  |  |  | with loads of letters | tree rules |
| 2 | **innit** *in a quote* | participle |  | letters *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | right *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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, it has exactly 26 letters like English

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:t6:o1:1
# text = Yes, it has exactly 26 letters like English
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	26	26	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
8	like	like	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | it | 26 letters |  |  |  | like English | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent letter=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, it uses thousands of characters, not 26 letters

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:t6:o2:1
# text = No, it uses thousands of characters, not 26 letters
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	uses	use	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	characters	character	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
10	26	26	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
11	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | present | it | thousands of characters |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, Chinese is not written down at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:t6:o3:1
# text = No, Chinese is not written down at all
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	down	down	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, it is the Greek alphabet drawn in a different way

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:82-how-writing-began-from-tally-marks-and-pictures-to-the-alphabet:t6:o4:1
# text = Yes, it is the Greek alphabet drawn in a different way
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Greek	Greek	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	drawn	draw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | it | the Greek alphabet |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **draw** | participle |  | the Greek alphabet *not said here* |  | a different way |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in way=Destination |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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