---
title: To get real numbers, scientists use rock clocks: some rocks, especia… — How old is it? Rock layers, rock clocks, amber a… · tree and pragmatics
description: To get real numbers, scientists use rock clocks: some rocks, especially volcanic ash, hold atoms that slowly turn into other atoms at a steady speed, and measuring how much has changed tells the age, like reading how far a candle has burnt down. Who acts: scientists, rocks, atoms, candle. A sentence
---

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# How old is it? Rock layers, rock clocks, amber and the long story of life, sentence 1

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To get real numbers, scientists use rock clocks: some rocks, especially volcanic ash, hold atoms that slowly turn into other atoms at a steady speed, and measuring how much has changed tells the age, like reading how far a candle has burnt down.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** scientists, rocks, atoms, candle · **What happens:** get, use, hold, turn, measure, change · **To what, where:** real numbers, rock clocks, atoms, other atoms, age · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of the lesson «How old is it? Rock layers, rock clocks, amber and the long story of life» of the biology course of Mova's primary school. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (scientists, rocks, atoms, candle), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = school:biology:276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life.lesson:1
# text = To get real numbers, scientists use rock clocks: some rocks, especially volcanic ash, hold atoms that slowly turn into other atoms at a steady speed, and measuring how much has changed tells the age, like reading how far a candle has burnt down.
# source = school lesson (ours)
# course = biology
# lesson = 276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life.lesson
# annotation = Mova annot: Rust (en) → Haiku 5.5 (medium, Batches API) patches; gates UD 2.18; agreed by treeagree rules (Stanza, Trankit, spaCy trf): R5-strong ×1, R7-rel-agree ×4
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
3	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	numbers	number	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	use	use	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	clocks	clock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
11	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	12	det	_	_
12	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	especially	especially	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
15	volcanic	volcanic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	ash	ash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	appos	_	Agree=R7-rel-agree|Haiku=12:conj
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	hold	hold	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl	_	_
19	atoms	atom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	Agree=R5-strong|Haiku=12:conj
20	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
21	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	turn	turn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	_
23	into	into	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	atoms	atom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	steady	steady	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
32	measuring	measure	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	37	nsubj	_	_
33	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	34	advmod	_	_
34	much	much	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	36	advmod	_	_
35	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	changed	change	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	32	ccomp	_	_
37	tells	tell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	Agree=R7-rel-agree|Haiku=42:case|HaikuPos=ADP:IN:_
42	reading	read	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	37	advcl	_	Agree=R7-rel-agree|Haiku=37:obl
43	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	44	advmod	_	_
44	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	48	advmod	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	candle	candle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nsubj	_	_
47	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	burnt	burnt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	42	ccomp	_	_
49	down	down	ADP	RP	_	48	compound:prt	_	Agree=R7-rel-agree|Haiku=48:advmod|HaikuPos=ADV:RB:_
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | to-infinitive | scientists *not said here* | real numbers |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer number=Stimulus |
| 2 | **use** | present | scientists | rock clocks and some rocks |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clock=Patient |
| 3 | **hold** | present | some rocks *not said here* | atoms |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent atom=Theme |
| 4 | **turn** | present | atoms |  |  | other atoms |  | at a steady speed; slowly *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V PP.source PP.trajectory PP.destination»: agent=Theme into atom=Source at speed=Trajectory |
| 5 | **measure** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **change** | present · perfect |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present |  | the age |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent age=Recipient |
| 8 | **read** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 9 | **burnt down** | present · perfect | a candle |  |  |  |  | far *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

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**Licence: [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)**, as the whole of Mova corpus 0.4, of which this treebank (the agreed school, `mova-school-agreed-en.conllu`) is part. The lessons were written for Mova's primary school. Sentence `school:biology:276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life.lesson:1`.

**The tree:** Mova annot: Rust (en) → Haiku 5.5 (medium, Batches API) patches; gates UD 2.18; agreed by treeagree rules (Stanza, Trankit, spaCy trf): R5-strong ×1, R7-rel-agree ×4. **The frames** are read from the tree by Mova's frames reader (`prag`) when this page is built, the lesson read in order, so a pronoun may be resolved from an earlier sentence.

See the [release 0.4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/releases/0.4/).

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