---
title: Identify the principle upon which the radiometric dating of rocks de… — Deep time and the story of life · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principle upon which the radiometric dating of rocks depends. Exam question 2 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.
---

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# Exam question 2 · Deep time and the story of life

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principle upon which the radiometric dating of rocks depends.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, radiometric dating · **What happens:** identify, depend, date · **To what, where:** principle, rocks

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 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/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life:e2:1
# text = Identify the principle upon which the radiometric dating of rocks depends.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	principle	principle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	radiometric	radiometric	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	dating	dating	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
11	depends	depend	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principle |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent principle=Theme |
| 2 | **depend** | present | the radiometric dating of rocks |  |  |  |  | upon the principle | vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **date** |  |  | rocks |  |  |  |  | nom dating «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
The colour of rock darkens at a constant and measurable rate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life:e2:o1:1
# text = The colour of rock darkens at a constant and measurable rate
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	darkens	darken	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
8	constant	constant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	measurable	measurable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
11	rate	rate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **darken** | present | the colour of rock |  |  | a constant rate |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Radioactive atoms decay into other atoms at a constant rate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life:e2:o2:1
# text = Radioactive atoms decay into other atoms at a constant rate
1	Radioactive	radioactive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	atoms	atom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	decay	decay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	atoms	atom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	constant	constant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	rate	rate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decay** | present | Radioactive atoms |  |  | other atoms |  | at a constant rate | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rocks increase in mass at a constant rate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life:e2:o3:1
# text = Rocks increase in mass at a constant rate
1	Rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	increase	increase	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	mass	mass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	constant	constant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	rate	rate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **increase** | present | Rocks |  |  |  |  | at a constant rate; in mass | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute PP.extent PP.initial\_state PP.result»: agent=Patient in mass=Attribute at rate=Extent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fossils within rocks multiply at a constant rate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life:e2:o4:1
# text = Fossils within rocks multiply at a constant rate
1	Fossils	fossil	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	within	within	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
4	multiply	multiply	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	constant	constant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	rate	rate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **multiply** | present | Fossils within rocks |  |  | a constant rate |  |  | vn birth-28.2-2 «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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