---
title: Why could the Morse telegraph send any word, unlike beacon fires? — Communication: letters, phones, radio… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why could the Morse telegraph send any word, unlike beacon fires? Test 9 · ★★★ 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 and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 9 · ★★★ · Communication: letters, phones, radio and the internet

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why could the Morse telegraph send any word, unlike beacon fires?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Morse telegraph · **What happens:** send · **To what, where:** word

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★★ 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t9:1
# text = Why could the Morse telegraph send any word, unlike beacon fires?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	Morse	Morse	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	telegraph	telegraph	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
8	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	unlike	unlike	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	beacon	beacon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	fires	fire	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | could | the Morse telegraph | any word |  |  |  | unlike beacon fires | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
Each word had its own separate wire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t9:o1:1
# text = Each word had its own separate wire
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
5	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	separate	separate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	wire	wire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | each word | word's own separate wire |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wire=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The wires carried the sender's real voice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t9:o2:1
# text = The wires carried the sender's real voice
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	wires	wire	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sender	sender	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry** | past | the wires | the sender's real voice |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent voice=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The operators knew every message in advance

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t9:o3:1
# text = The operators knew every message in advance
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	operators	operator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	det	_	_
5	message	message	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	advance	advance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | the operators | every message |  | advance |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer message=Stimulus |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Every letter had its own pattern of signals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t9:o4:1
# text = Every letter had its own pattern of signals
1	Every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
5	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	pattern	pattern	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	signals	signal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | every letter | letter's own pattern of signals |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pattern=Patient |
| 2 | **pattern** |  | signals |  |  |  |  |  | nom pattern «cognition intransitive»: of=agent |

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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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