---
title: A writer of the 15th century wanted to send a letter to a friend. Wh… — Time and history: the timeline and how… · tree and pragmatics
description: A writer of the 15th century wanted to send a letter to a friend. Which of these could he use? Test 8 · ★★ of lesson 48 «Time and history: the timeline and how people lived long ago» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each opt
---

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# Test 8 · ★★ · Time and history: the timeline and how people lived long ago

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A writer of the 15th century wanted to send a letter to a friend. Which of these could he use?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** writer · **What happens:** want, send, use · **To what, where:** letter, friend

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★ of lesson 48 «Time and history: the timeline and how people lived long ago» 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/48-time-and-history/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A writer of the 15th century wanted to send a letter to a friend.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:48-time-and-history:t8:1
# text = A writer of the 15th century wanted to send a letter to a friend.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	writer	writer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	15th	15th	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
7	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | a writer of the 15th century |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **send** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a writer of the 15th century *not said here* | a letter | a friend |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent letter=Theme to friend=Destination |

<!-- .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:* Which of these could he use?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:48-time-and-history:t8:2
# text = Which of these could he use?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	obj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	1	nmod	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | could | writer |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Patient |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Paper and ink

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:48-time-and-history:t8:o1:1
# text = Paper and ink
1	Paper	paper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	ink	ink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A telephone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:48-time-and-history:t8:o2:1
# text = A telephone
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	telephone	telephone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A printed newspaper of 1950

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:48-time-and-history:t8:o3:1
# text = A printed newspaper of 1950
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	printed	print	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	newspaper	newspaper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	1950	1950	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **print** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An email

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:48-time-and-history:t8:o4:1
# text = An email
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	email	email	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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: [Time and history: the timeline and how…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/48-time-and-history/t7/)
- next →: [Time and history: the timeline and how…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/48-time-and-history/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Time and history: the timeline and how people lived long ago](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/48-time-and-history/)