---
title: Why would a fast-breeding creature like a bacterium evolve faster th… — Evolution simply: why living things ch… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would a fast-breeding creature like a bacterium evolve faster than an elephant? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 73 «Evolution simply: why living things change over many generations» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; M
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · Evolution simply: why living things change over many gener…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would a fast-breeding creature like a bacterium evolve faster than an elephant?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** breeding creature · **What happens:** breed, evolve

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This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 73 «Evolution simply: why living things change over many generations» 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/73-evolution-simply/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:73-evolution-simply:t6:1
# text = Why would a fast-breeding creature like a bacterium evolve faster than an elephant?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
4	fast	fast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	breeding	breed	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	amod	_	_
7	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
8	like	like	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	bacterium	bacterium	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	evolve	evolve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
12	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	11	advmod	_	_
13	than	than	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **breed** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **evolve** | would | a breeding creature like a bacterium |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
Big animals are too heavy to change

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:73-evolution-simply:t6:o1:1
# text = Big animals are too heavy to change
1	Big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Big animals |  |  |  |  | heavy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **change** | to-infinitive | Big animals *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Elephants do not have genes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:73-evolution-simply:t6:o2:1
# text = Elephants do not have genes
1	Elephants	elephant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	genes	gene	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **have** | present · do-support | Elephants | genes |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gene=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bacteria are much cleverer than elephants and plan their changes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:73-evolution-simply:t6:o3:1
# text = Bacteria are much cleverer than elephants and plan their changes
1	Bacteria	bacterium	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	much	much	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	cleverer	clever	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	elephants	elephant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	plan	plan	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	changes	change	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Bacteria |  |  |  |  | than elephants; clever *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **plan** | present | Bacteria *not said here* | Bacteria's changes |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent change=Topic |
| 3 | **change** |  | Bacteria *= bacterium* |  |  |  |  |  | nom change «event intransitive»: poss=agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Many more generations pass in the same time, so changes add up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:73-evolution-simply:t6:o4:1
# text = Many more generations pass in the same time, so changes add up
1	Many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
2	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	amod	_	_
3	generations	generation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	pass	pass	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
11	changes	change	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
12	add	add	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
13	up	up	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | present | Many more generations |  |  |  | time |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **add up** *speech: assert* | present | changes |  |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=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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