---
title: What would happen to our knowledge of the past if no mud or sand eve… — Fossils · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen to our knowledge of the past if no mud or sand ever buried dead things? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 57 «Fossils» of the geography 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 9 · ★ · Fossils

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen to our knowledge of the past if no mud or sand ever buried dead things?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** happen, bury · **To what, where:** mud

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 57 «Fossils» of the geography 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/geography/57-fossils/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:57-fossils:t9:1
# text = What would happen to our knowledge of the past if no mud or sand ever buried dead things?
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	_	6	case	_	_
5	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	past	past	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
11	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	12	det	_	_
12	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
15	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	16	advmod	_	_
16	buried	bury	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
17	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | to our knowledge of the past | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **bury** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle · passive |  | no mud or sand |  |  | ever |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme thing=Destination |

<!-- .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 -->
We would have even more fossils, lying about on the ground

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:57-fossils:t9:o1:1
# text = We would have even more fossils, lying about on the ground
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	even	even	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
6	fossils	fossil	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
9	about	about	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | would | We | more fossils |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fossil=Patient |
| 2 | **lie** | gerund |  |  |  | the ground |  | about *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on ground=Location |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Almost no fossils would form, so we would know far less

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:57-fossils:t9:o2:1
# text = Almost no fossils would form, so we would know far less
1	Almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	3	det	_	_
3	fossils	fossil	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	form	form	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
8	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
11	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	_
12	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	10	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **form** | would | no fossils |  |  |  |  | almost *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **know** | would | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fossils would form in the sky instead

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:57-fossils:t9:o3:1
# text = Fossils would form in the sky instead
1	Fossils	fossil	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	form	form	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	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	instead	instead	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **form** | would | Fossils |  |  | the sky |  | instead *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in sky=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing would change

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:57-fossils:t9:o4:1
# text = Nothing would change
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | would | Nothing |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Fossils, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/57-fossils/t8/)
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