---
title: A cartoon shows cavemen riding dinosaurs. What is wrong? — How we got here: the big steps on one… · tree and pragmatics
description: A cartoon shows cavemen riding dinosaurs. What is wrong? Test 3 of lesson 61 «How we got here: the big steps on one long timeline» of the history 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 3 · How we got here: the big steps on one long timeline

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cartoon shows cavemen riding dinosaurs. What is wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cartoon, cavemen · **What happens:** show, ride, be · **To what, where:** cavemen, dinosaurs

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 of lesson 61 «How we got here: the big steps on one long timeline» of the history 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/history/61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cartoon shows cavemen riding dinosaurs.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline:t3:1
# text = A cartoon shows cavemen riding dinosaurs.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	cavemen	caveman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	riding	ride	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
6	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | a cartoon | cavemen |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent caveman=Recipient |
| 2 | **ride** | gerund | cavemen *not said here* | dinosaurs |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dinosaur=Theme |

<!-- .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:* What is wrong?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline:t3:2
# text = What is wrong?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Millions of years separate the dinosaurs and people

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline:t3:o1:1
# text = Millions of years separate the dinosaurs and people
1	Millions	million	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
4	separate	separate	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **separate** | present | Millions of years | the dinosaurs and people |  |  |  |  | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dinosaur=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only the small dinosaurs were really ridden by people

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline:t3:o2:1
# text = Only the small dinosaurs were really ridden by people
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
6	really	really	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	ridden	ride	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ride** | past · passive | people | the small dinosaurs |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cavemen should be riding the flying dinosaurs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline:t3:o3:1
# text = The cavemen should be riding the flying dinosaurs
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cavemen	caveman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	riding	ride	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	amod	_	_
8	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ride** | should · progressive | the cavemen | the flying dinosaurs |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dinosaur=Theme |
| 2 | **fly** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing at all: people and dinosaurs lived together

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline:t3:o4:1
# text = Nothing at all: people and dinosaurs lived together
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	8	nsubj	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
5	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	_
8	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	together	together	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live together** | past | Nothing |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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: [How we got here: the big steps on one…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline/t2/)
- next →: [How we got here: the big steps on one…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline/t4/)
- ↑ back to [How we got here: the big steps on one long timeline](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline/)