---
title: Were there languages in North America and Australia before English a… — Countries, peoples and languages of th… · tree and pragmatics
description: Were there languages in North America and Australia before English arrived? Test 5 of lesson 46 «Countries, peoples and languages of the world» 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 5 · Countries, peoples and languages of the world

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Were there languages in North America and Australia before English arrived?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** languages · **What happens:** be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 of lesson 46 «Countries, peoples and languages of the world» 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/46-countries-peoples-languages/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:46-countries-peoples-languages:t5:1
# text = Were there languages in North America and Australia before English arrived?
1	Were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
2	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	11	expl	_	_
3	languages	language	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	North	North	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	America	America	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	Australia	Australia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
9	before	before	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | languages in North America and Australia before English |  |  | there |  | arrive *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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, many native languages

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:46-countries-peoples-languages:t5:o1:1
# text = Yes, many native languages
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	languages	language	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, people there had no languages at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:46-countries-peoples-languages:t5:o2:1
# text = No, people there had no languages at all
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
5	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	7	det	_	_
7	languages	language	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | people | no languages |  | all; there |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent language=Patient |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only one language was spoken in each land

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:46-countries-peoples-languages:t5:o3:1
# text = Only one language was spoken in each land
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past · passive |  | one language |  | each land |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, those lands were empty until English came

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:46-countries-peoples-languages:t5:o4:1
# text = No, those lands were empty until English came
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
4	lands	land	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | that lands |  |  |  |  | empty *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **come** | past | English |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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