---
title: «Darwin did it all alone and was first» What is closer to the truth? — Evolution: why giraffes really have lo… · tree and pragmatics
description: «Darwin did it all alone and was first» What is closer to the truth? Test 8 · ★★ of lesson 278 «Evolution: why giraffes really have long necks» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 8 · ★★ · Evolution: why giraffes really have long necks

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«Darwin did it all alone and was first» What is closer to the truth?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Darwin · **What happens:** do, be · **To what, where:** it · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 8 · ★★ of lesson 278 «Evolution: why giraffes really have long necks» 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/278-evolution-why-giraffes-really-have-long-necks/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:278-evolution-why-giraffes-really-have-long-necks:t8:1
# text = «Darwin did it all alone and was first» What is closer to the truth?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Darwin	Darwin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	csubj	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	all	all	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
11	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	13	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	closer	close	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** *in a quote* | past | Darwin | it |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | past | Darwin *not said here* |  |  |  |  | first *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | to the truth; close *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
Darwin got it from a TV show

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:278-evolution-why-giraffes-really-have-long-necks:t8:o1:1
# text = Darwin got it from a TV show
1	Darwin	Darwin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	TV	TV	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	show	show	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | Darwin | it |  | a TV show |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent it=Theme from show=Source |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody had the idea before 1959

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:278-evolution-why-giraffes-really-have-long-necks:t8:o2:1
# text = Nobody had the idea before 1959
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	before	before	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	1959	1959	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Nobody | the idea |  |  | before 1959 |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent idea=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Darwin copied all of it from Lamarck, who wrote it down years before

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:278-evolution-why-giraffes-really-have-long-necks:t8:o3:1
# text = Darwin copied all of it from Lamarck, who wrote it down years before
1	Darwin	Darwin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	copied	copy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nmod	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Lamarck	Lamarck	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	wrote	write	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	down	down	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
13	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl:unmarked	_	_
14	before	before	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **copy** | past | Darwin | all |  | Lamarck |  |  | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent all=Theme |
| 2 | **write down** | past |  | it |  |  | year |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Wallace had the same idea of natural selection at the same time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:278-evolution-why-giraffes-really-have-long-necks:t8:o4:1
# text = Wallace had the same idea of natural selection at the same time
1	Wallace	Wallace	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	natural	natural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	selection	selection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Wallace | the same idea of natural selection |  |  | time |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent idea=Patient |

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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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