---
title: What would happen to a dead fish lying on the seabed for years witho… — Fossils: how a living thing turns to s… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen to a dead fish lying on the seabed for years without being buried? Test 3 of lesson 275 «Fossils: how a living thing turns to stone and how we dig it up» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova
---

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# Test 3 · Fossils: how a living thing turns to stone and how we dig…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen to a dead fish lying on the seabed for years without being buried?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** dead fish · **What happens:** happen, lie, bury · **To what, where:** seabed

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 of lesson 275 «Fossils: how a living thing turns to stone and how we dig it up» 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/275-fossils-how-a-living-thing-turns-to-stone-and-how-we-dig-it-up/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:275-fossils-how-a-living-thing-turns-to-stone-and-how-we-dig-it-up:t3:1
# text = What would happen to a dead fish lying on the seabed for years without being buried?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	seabed	seabed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
14	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	buried	bury	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | to a dead fish | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **lie** | gerund | a dead fish *not said here* |  |  | the seabed | year |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on seabed=Location |
| 3 | **bury** | gerund · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP» |

<!-- .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 -->
It would turn to stone in a few weeks, as all dead fish do in the sea

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:275-fossils-how-a-living-thing-turns-to-stone-and-how-we-dig-it-up:t3:o1:1
# text = It would turn to stone in a few weeks, as all dead fish do in the sea
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	weeks	week	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	14	det	_	_
13	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
15	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | would | It |  |  | stone | week |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme to stone=Trajectory |
| 2 | **do** | present | all dead fish |  |  | the sea |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would most likely be eaten or rot away and leave no fossil

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:275-fossils-how-a-living-thing-turns-to-stone-and-how-we-dig-it-up:t3:o2:1
# text = It would most likely be eaten or rot away and leave no fossil
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	4	advmod	_	_
4	likely	likely	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	rot	rot	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
9	away	away	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
12	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	13	det	_	_
13	fossil	fossil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | would · passive |  | It |  |  |  | likely *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **rot away** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **leave** | infinitive |  | no fossil |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fossil=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would float up and become a cloud

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:275-fossils-how-a-living-thing-turns-to-stone-and-how-we-dig-it-up:t3:o3:1
# text = It would float up and become a cloud
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	float	float	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	up	up	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	cloud	cloud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **float up** | would | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **become** | infinitive |  | a cloud |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would grow into a new fish

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:275-fossils-how-a-living-thing-turns-to-stone-and-how-we-dig-it-up:t3:o4:1
# text = It would grow into a new fish
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | would | It |  |  |  |  | into a new fish *result* | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient into fish=Result |

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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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