---
title: In Jurassic Park, scientists take dinosaur blood from a mosquito in… — How old is it? Rock layers, rock clock… · tree and pragmatics
description: In Jurassic Park, scientists take dinosaur blood from a mosquito in amber and make new dinosaurs. Why can't this really happen? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 276 «How old is it? Rock layers, rock clocks, amber and the long story of life» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tre
---

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# Test 1 · ★ · How old is it? Rock layers, rock clocks, amber and the lon…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In Jurassic Park, scientists take dinosaur blood from a mosquito in amber and make new dinosaurs. Why can't this really happen?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** scientists, this · **What happens:** take, make, not happen · **To what, where:** dinosaur blood, Jurassic, new dinosaurs

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 276 «How old is it? Rock layers, rock clocks, amber and the long story of life» 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/276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In Jurassic Park, scientists take dinosaur blood from a mosquito in amber and make new dinosaurs.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life:t1:1
# text = In Jurassic Park, scientists take dinosaur blood from a mosquito in amber and make new dinosaurs.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	Jurassic	Jurassic	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
3	Park	Park	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
5	scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	take	take	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	dinosaur	dinosaur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	mosquito	mosquito	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	amber	amber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
16	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | present | scientists | dinosaur blood |  | Jurassic |  | from a mosquito in amber | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent blood=Theme from mosquito=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **make** | present | scientists *not said here* | new dinosaurs |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset dinosaur=Product |

<!-- .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:* Why can't this really happen?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life:t1:2
# text = Why can't this really happen?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
5	really	really	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	happen	happen	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 | **not** **happen** | can | this |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mosquitoes did not bite dinosaurs, because dinosaur skin was far too thick for them

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life:t1:o1:1
# text = Mosquitoes did not bite dinosaurs, because dinosaur skin was far too thick for them
1	Mosquitoes	mosquito	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	bite	bite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
7	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
8	dinosaur	dinosaur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	advmod	_	_
12	too	too	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **bite** | past · do-support | Mosquitoes | dinosaurs |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dinosaur=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | past | dinosaur skin |  |  |  |  | for Mosquitoes *= mosquito*; far, thick *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
DNA breaks down long before 66 million years, and no dinosaur DNA has been found

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life:t1:o2:1
# text = DNA breaks down long before 66 million years, and no dinosaur DNA has been found
1	DNA	DNA	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	breaks	break	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	down	down	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
5	before	before	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	66	66	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	7	compound	_	_
7	million	million	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
11	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	13	det	_	_
12	dinosaur	dinosaur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	DNA	DNA	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break down** | present | DNA |  |  |  | year | long *property* | vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **find** | present · perfect · passive |  | no dinosaur DNA |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Amber is too hard to cut

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life:t1:o3:1
# text = Amber is too hard to cut
1	Amber	amber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Amber |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **cut** | to-infinitive | Amber *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dinosaurs had no blood

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life:t1:o4:1
# text = Dinosaurs had no blood
1	Dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

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

<!-- 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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- ← previous: [Fossils: how a living thing turns to s…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/275-fossils-how-a-living-thing-turns-to-stone-and-how-we-dig-it-up/e4/)
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- ↑ back to [How old is it? Rock layers, rock clocks, amber and the long story of life](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life/)