---
title: A fossil lies in a low rock layer and another in a high layer of the… — Fossils: how we know about life long ago · tree and pragmatics
description: A fossil lies in a low rock layer and another in a high layer of the same cliff. Which is probably older? Test 8 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 
---

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# Test 8 · Fossils: how we know about life long ago

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A fossil lies in a low rock layer and another in a high layer of the same cliff. Which is probably older?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** fossil · **What happens:** lie, be · **To what, where:** low rock layer

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A fossil lies in a low rock layer and another in a high layer of the same cliff.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t8:1
# text = A fossil lies in a low rock layer and another in a high layer of the same cliff.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fossil	fossil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	lies	lie	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	low	low	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	layer	layer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
10	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	14	det	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	layer	layer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	cliff	cliff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie** | present | a fossil |  |  | a low rock layer and another high layer of the same cliff |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in layer=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Which is probably older?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t8:2
# text = Which is probably older?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | old, probably *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The one in the lower layer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t8:o1:1
# text = The one in the lower layer
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	lower	low	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
6	layer	layer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They must be exactly the same age

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t8:o2:1
# text = They must be exactly the same age
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
4	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | must | They | the same age |  |  |  | exactly *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The one in the higher layer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t8:o3:1
# text = The one in the higher layer
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	higher	high	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
6	layer	layer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You can never tell anything from layers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:74-fossils-life-long-ago:t8:o4:1
# text = You can never tell anything from layers
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obj	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	layers	layer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | can | You | anything |  | layers |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent anything=Recipient |

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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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