---
title: Why might some scientists think life on Earth started at vents? — Vents and trenches: tubeworms, iron sn… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might some scientists think life on Earth started at vents? Test 11 · ★★ of lesson 177 «Vents and trenches: tubeworms, iron snails, the Challenger Deep and life without sunlight» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each o
---

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# Test 11 · ★★ · Vents and trenches: tubeworms, iron snails, the Challenger…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might some scientists think life on Earth started at vents?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** scientists, life · **What happens:** think, start · **To what, where:** vents · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★ of lesson 177 «Vents and trenches: tubeworms, iron snails, the Challenger Deep and life without sunlight» of the biology 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/biology/177-vents-and-trenches-tubeworms-iron-snails-the-challenger-deep-and-life-without-sunlight/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:177-vents-and-trenches-tubeworms-iron-snails-the-challenger-deep-and-life-without-sunlight:t11:1
# text = Why might some scientists think life on Earth started at vents?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
4	scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	vents	vent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | might | some scientists |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **start** | past | life on Earth |  |  | vents |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 -->
Vents are the warmest place on the surface of the Earth, warmer than deserts

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:177-vents-and-trenches-tubeworms-iron-snails-the-challenger-deep-and-life-without-sunlight:t11:o1:1
# text = Vents are the warmest place on the surface of the Earth, warmer than deserts
1	Vents	vent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	warmest	warm	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	warmer	warm	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
14	than	than	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	deserts	desert	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Vents | the warmest place |  | the surface of the Earth |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Vents give energy from chemicals without needing sunlight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:177-vents-and-trenches-tubeworms-iron-snails-the-challenger-deep-and-life-without-sunlight:t11:o2:1
# text = Vents give energy from chemicals without needing sunlight
1	Vents	vent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	give	give	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	energy	energy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	chemicals	chemical	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
6	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	needing	need	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	advcl	_	_
8	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | present | Vents | energy |  | chemicals |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent energy=Theme |
| 2 | **need** | gerund | Vents *not said here* | sunlight |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot sunlight=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dinosaurs lived at vents

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:177-vents-and-trenches-tubeworms-iron-snails-the-challenger-deep-and-life-without-sunlight:t11:o3:1
# text = Dinosaurs lived at vents
1	Dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	vents	vent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | past | Dinosaurs |  |  | vents |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at vent=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Vents are full of sunlight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:177-vents-and-trenches-tubeworms-iron-snails-the-challenger-deep-and-life-without-sunlight:t11:o4:1
# text = Vents are full of sunlight
1	Vents	vent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Vents |  |  |  |  | of sunlight; full *property* | tree rules |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Vents and trenches: tubeworms, iron sn…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/177-vents-and-trenches-tubeworms-iron-snails-the-challenger-deep-and-life-without-sunlight/t10/)
- next →: [Vents and trenches: tubeworms, iron sn…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/177-vents-and-trenches-tubeworms-iron-snails-the-challenger-deep-and-life-without-sunlight/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Vents and trenches: tubeworms, iron snails, the Challenger Deep and life without sunlight](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/177-vents-and-trenches-tubeworms-iron-snails-the-challenger-deep-and-life-without-sunlight/)