---
title: ★★★ Tom: «Writing came first, then people invented farming so they'd… — Olympiad: cause and effect chains ★★★ · tree and pragmatics
description: ★★★ Tom: «Writing came first, then people invented farming so they'd have something to write about.» What's wrong? Test 11 · ★★★ of lesson 86 «Olympiad: cause and effect chains ★★★» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each op
---

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# Test 11 · ★★★ · Olympiad: cause and effect chains ★★★

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
★★★ Tom: «Writing came first, then people invented farming so they'd have something to write about.» What's wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Writing, people · **What happens:** come, invent, have, write, be · **To what, where:** farming, something

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★★ of lesson 86 «Olympiad: cause and effect chains ★★★» 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/86-olympiad-cause-and-effect-chains/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* ★★★ Tom: «Writing came first, then people invented farming so they'd have something to write about.»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:86-olympiad-cause-and-effect-chains:t11:1
# text = ★★★ Tom: «Writing came first, then people invented farming so they'd have something to write about.»
1	★	★	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	★	★	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	★	★	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
6	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	13	advmod	_	_
12	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
13	invented	invent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
14	farming	farming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
19	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	18	obj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	write	write	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	acl	_	_
22	about	about	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** *in a quote* | past | Writing |  |  |  |  | first *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **invent** *in a quote* | past | people | farming |  |  | then |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent farming=Result |
| 3 | **have** *in a quote* | would | people | something |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Patient |
| 4 | **write** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | people *not said here* | something *not said here* |  |  |  | about *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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:* What's wrong?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:86-olympiad-cause-and-effect-chains:t11:2
# text = What's wrong?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing; writing is much older than farming

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:86-olympiad-cause-and-effect-chains:t11:o1:1
# text = Nothing; writing is much older than farming
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
3	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	much	much	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	farming	farming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Nothing writing |  |  |  |  | than farming; old *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Farming came only after the printing press

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:86-olympiad-cause-and-effect-chains:t11:o2:1
# text = Farming came only after the printing press
1	Farming	farming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	after	after	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	printing	printing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	press	press	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | Farming |  |  |  | after the printing press |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Farming came thousands of years before writing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:86-olympiad-cause-and-effect-chains:t11:o3:1
# text = Farming came thousands of years before writing
1	Farming	farming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
6	before	before	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | Farming | thousands of years |  | writing |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme before writing=Location |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Writing and farming began on the same day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:86-olympiad-cause-and-effect-chains:t11:o4:1
# text = Writing and farming began on the same day
1	Writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	farming	farming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
4	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | Writing and farming |  |  |  | day |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

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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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- ← previous: [Olympiad: cause and effect chains ★★★, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/86-olympiad-cause-and-effect-chains/t10/)
- next →: [Olympiad: cause and effect chains ★★★, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/86-olympiad-cause-and-effect-chains/t12/)
- ↑ back to [Olympiad: cause and effect chains ★★★](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/86-olympiad-cause-and-effect-chains/)