---
title: In a cartoon, cavemen ride a dinosaur to work. What do fossils tell… — Fossils: how we know about life long ago · tree and pragmatics
description: In a cartoon, cavemen ride a dinosaur to work. What do fossils tell us? Test 2 of lesson 74 «Fossils: how we know about life long ago» 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 right.
---

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# Test 2 · Fossils: how we know about life long ago

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a cartoon, cavemen ride a dinosaur to work. What do fossils tell us?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** cavemen, fossils · **What happens:** ride, work, tell · **To what, where:** dinosaur, cartoon, us · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 of lesson 74 «Fossils: how we know about life long ago» 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/74-fossils-life-long-ago/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a cartoon, cavemen ride a dinosaur to work.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t2:1
# text = In a cartoon, cavemen ride a dinosaur to work.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	cavemen	caveman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	ride	ride	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	dinosaur	dinosaur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ride** | present | cavemen | a dinosaur |  | a cartoon |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dinosaur=Theme |
| 2 | **work** | to-infinitive | cavemen *not said here* | a dinosaur *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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:* What do fossils tell us?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t2:2
# text = What do fossils tell us?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	fossils	fossil	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · do-support | fossils |  | us |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent we=Recipient what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dinosaurs died out only a few thousand years ago

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t2:o1:1
# text = Dinosaurs died out only a few thousand years ago
1	Dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	out	out	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
9	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die out** | past | Dinosaurs |  |  |  | year |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cavemen hunted dinosaurs with spears

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t2:o2:1
# text = Cavemen hunted dinosaurs with spears
1	Cavemen	caveman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	hunted	hunt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	spears	spear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hunt** | past | Cavemen | dinosaurs |  |  |  | with spears | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dinosaur=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tens of millions of years separate the last dinosaurs and the first humans

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t2:o3:1
# text = Tens of millions of years separate the last dinosaurs and the first humans
1	Tens	ten	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	millions	million	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
6	separate	separate	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	13	amod	_	_
13	humans	human	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **separate** | present | Tens of millions of years | the last dinosaurs and the first humans |  |  |  |  | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dinosaur=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
People and dinosaurs lived together for a short time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t2:o4:1
# text = People and dinosaurs lived together for a short time
1	People	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
4	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	together	together	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live together** | past | People and dinosaurs |  |  |  | time | together *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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