---
title: What would happen to a dead fish lying on a dry beach for a week? — Fossils: how we know about life long ago · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen to a dead fish lying on a dry beach for a week? Test 5 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 5 · Fossils: how we know about life long ago

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen to a dead fish lying on a dry beach for a week?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** dead fish · **What happens:** happen, lie · **To what, where:** dry beach

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 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/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t5:1
# text = What would happen to a dead fish lying on a dry beach for a week?
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	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	beach	beach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	week	week	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	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* |  |  | a dry beach | week |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on beach=Location |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would turn into solid stone within a few days in the hot sun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t5:o1:1
# text = It would turn into solid stone within a few days in the hot sun
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	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	solid	solid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	within	within	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | would | It |  |  | solid stone | day | in the hot sun | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V PP.source PP.trajectory PP.destination»: agent=Theme into stone=Source in sun=Trajectory |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would dissolve in the sand and leave a bone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t5:o2:1
# text = It would dissolve in the sand and leave a bone
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	dissolve	dissolve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	leave	leave	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	bone	bone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dissolve** | would | It |  |  | the sand |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **leave** | present |  | a bone |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bone=Theme |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would rot or be eaten, so it would almost never become a fossil

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t5:o3:1
# text = It would rot or be eaten, so it would almost never become a fossil
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	rot	rot	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
10	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
11	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	become	become	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	fossil	fossil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rot** | would | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **eat** | infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V» |
| 3 | **not** **become** | would | it | a fossil |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would certainly become a perfect fossil

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t5:o4:1
# text = It would certainly become a perfect fossil
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	perfect	perfect	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	fossil	fossil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | would | It | a perfect fossil |  |  |  | certainly *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: 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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