---
title: Beacon fires on hilltops could warn a whole country of an invasion i… — Communication: letters, phones, radio… · tree and pragmatics
description: Beacon fires on hilltops could warn a whole country of an invasion in hours. Why could they not send a long story? Test 2 · ★★★ of lesson 100 «Communication: letters, phones, radio and the internet» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/100-communication-letters-to-internet/t2/)

<!-- 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/) / [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/) / [Communication: letters, phones, radio…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/100-communication-letters-to-internet/) / t2

# Test 2 · ★★★ · Communication: letters, phones, radio and the internet

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Beacon fires on hilltops could warn a whole country of an invasion in hours. Why could they not send a long story?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Beacon fires, fires · **What happens:** warn, not send · **To what, where:** whole country, long story

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★★★ of lesson 100 «Communication: letters, phones, radio and the internet» of the world 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/world/100-communication-letters-to-internet/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Beacon fires on hilltops could warn a whole country of an invasion in hours.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t2:1
# text = Beacon fires on hilltops could warn a whole country of an invasion in hours.
1	Beacon	beacon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	fires	fire	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	hilltops	hilltop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	warn	warn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	invasion	invasion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **warn** *speech: warn* | could | Beacon fires on hilltops | a whole country of a invasion |  |  | hour |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent country=Recipient |

<!-- .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:* Why could they not send a long story?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t2:2
# text = Why could they not send a long story?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **send** | could | fires *= fire* | a long story |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent story=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fire travels more slowly than a horse

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t2:o1:1
# text = Fire travels more slowly than a horse
1	Fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	travels	travel	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
4	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **travel** | present | Fire |  |  |  |  | than a horse; slowly *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Beacons could only be lit in the daytime

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t2:o2:1
# text = Beacons could only be lit in the daytime
1	Beacons	beacon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	lit	lit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	daytime	daytime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lit** | could · passive |  | Beacons |  | the daytime |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A fire can only show a simple signal agreed in advance

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t2:o3:1
# text = A fire can only show a simple signal agreed in advance
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	simple	simple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	signal	signal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	agreed	agree	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	advance	advance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | can | a fire | a simple signal |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent signal=Recipient |
| 2 | **agree** *speech: agree* | participle |  | a simple signal *not said here* |  | advance |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody could see fire from another hill

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t2:o4:1
# text = Nobody could see fire from another hill
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
7	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | could | Nobody | fire |  | another hill |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer fire=Stimulus |

<!-- 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: [Communication: letters, phones, radio…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/100-communication-letters-to-internet/t1/)
- next →: [Communication: letters, phones, radio…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/100-communication-letters-to-internet/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Communication: letters, phones, radio and the internet](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/100-communication-letters-to-internet/)