---
title: State the period during which giant ground sloths inhabited the Amer… — The South American area: sloths, antea… · tree and pragmatics
description: State the period during which giant ground sloths inhabited the Americas, relative to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Exam question 4 of lesson 108 «The South American area: sloths, anteaters, piranhas and giant otters» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pr
---

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# Exam question 4 · The South American area: sloths, anteaters, piranhas and g…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
State the period during which giant ground sloths inhabited the Americas, relative to the extinction of the dinosaurs.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** giant ground sloths · **What happens:** inhabit, extinguish · **To what, where:** State period, dinosaurs

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 108 «The South American area: sloths, anteaters, piranhas and giant otters» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/biology/108-the-south-american-area-sloths-anteaters-piranhas-giant-otters/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:108-the-south-american-area-sloths-anteaters-piranhas-giant-otters:e4:1
# text = State the period during which giant ground sloths inhabited the Americas, relative to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
1	State	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	period	period	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	during	during	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obl	_	_
6	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	sloths	sloth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	inhabited	inhabit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Americas	AMERICAS	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	relative	relative	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	extinction	extinction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **inhabit** | past | giant ground sloths | the State period |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **extinguish** |  |  | the dinosaurs |  |  |  |  | nom extinction «state transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They inhabit the Americas at the present day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:108-the-south-american-area-sloths-anteaters-piranhas-giant-otters:e4:o1:1
# text = They inhabit the Americas at the present day
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	inhabit	inhabit	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Americas	AMERICAS	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	present	present	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **inhabit** | present | They | the Americas |  |  | day |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Until about ten thousand years ago, long after the dinosaurs had died out

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:108-the-south-american-area-sloths-anteaters-piranhas-giant-otters:e4:o2:1
# text = Until about ten thousand years ago, long after the dinosaurs had died out
1	Until	until	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	about	about	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
3	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	compound	_	_
4	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	advmod	_	_
9	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	died	die	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
14	out	out	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die out** | past · perfect | the dinosaurs |  |  |  |  | ago, long *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At the same time as the dinosaurs, and no later

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:108-the-south-american-area-sloths-anteaters-piranhas-giant-otters:e4:o3:1
# text = At the same time as the dinosaurs, and no later
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	as	as	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	no	no	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Before the dinosaurs had appeared

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:108-the-south-american-area-sloths-anteaters-piranhas-giant-otters:e4:o4:1
# text = Before the dinosaurs had appeared
1	Before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	appeared	appear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **appear** | past · perfect | the dinosaurs |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- 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 -->

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