--- title: Ascertain the age of the Earth as established by radiometric dating. — Deep time and the story of life · tree and pragmatics description: Ascertain the age of the Earth as established by radiometric dating. Exam question 1 of lesson 58 «Deep time and the story of life» 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. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life/e1/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Geography](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/) / [Deep time and the story of life](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life/) / e1 # Exam question 1 · Deep time and the story of life Ascertain the age of the Earth as established by radiometric dating. **Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, establish · **To what, where:** age This is exam question 1 of lesson 58 «Deep time and the story of life» of the geography course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life/#e1). ## The question {#question} ```conllu # sent_id = question:geography:58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life:e1:1 # text = Ascertain the age of the Earth as established by radiometric dating. 1 Ascertain ascertain VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 age age NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 obj _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 Earth Earth PROPN NNP Number=Sing 3 nmod _ _ 7 as as SCONJ IN _ 8 mark _ _ 8 established establish VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 1 advcl _ _ 9 by by ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 radiometric radiometric ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 11 dating dating NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 . . PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the age of the Earth | | | | | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent age=Topic | | 2 | **establish** | participle | you *not said here* | | | | | by radiometric dating | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot | 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} Approximately six thousand years ```conllu # sent_id = question:geography:58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life:e1:o1:1 # text = Approximately six thousand years 1 Approximately approximately ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 2 six six NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 3 nummod _ _ 3 thousand thousand NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 4 nummod _ _ 4 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 0 root _ _ ``` The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence. ### Option 2 {#o2} Approximately forty-five thousand million years ```conllu # sent_id = question:geography:58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life:e1:o2:1 # text = Approximately forty-five thousand million years 1 Approximately approximately ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 2 forty forty NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 4 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 3 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 4 five five NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 5 compound _ _ 5 thousand thousand NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 6 compound _ _ 6 million million NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 7 nummod _ _ 7 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 0 root _ _ ``` The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence. ### Option 3 {#o3} Approximately four million five hundred thousand years ```conllu # sent_id = question:geography:58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life:e1:o3:1 # text = Approximately four million five hundred thousand years 1 Approximately approximately ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 2 four four NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 3 compound _ _ 3 million million NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 4 compound _ _ 4 five five NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 5 compound _ _ 5 hundred hundred NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 6 compound _ _ 6 thousand thousand NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 7 nummod _ _ 7 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 0 root _ _ ``` The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence. ### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4} Approximately four thousand five hundred and forty million years ```conllu # sent_id = question:geography:58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life:e1:o4:1 # text = Approximately four thousand five hundred and forty million years 1 Approximately approximately ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 2 four four NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 3 compound _ _ 3 thousand thousand NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 4 compound _ _ 4 five five NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 5 compound _ _ 5 hundred hundred NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 9 nummod _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 7 forty forty NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 8 compound _ _ 8 million million NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 5 conj _ _ 9 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 0 root _ _ ``` The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence. **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. - ← previous: [Deep time and the story of life, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life/t12/) - next →: [Deep time and the story of life, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life/e2/) - ↑ back to [Deep time and the story of life](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life/)