Natural selection we can watch: moths, finches, germs and tuskless elephants

Tests: 2 of 12 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 7 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 279 of the biology course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«doc gave me antibiotics, I feel fine after 2 days so I'll bin the rest» What is best?

1. Bin them, because feeling fine means every single germ is already dead and gone — no support
2. Take them all at once tomorrow — ← Mova's choice · score 5
3. Finish the course as the doctor says, so the toughest germs do not survive — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Give the rest to your dog — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 72, line 16: «In 1928 Alexander Fleming noticed that a mould, Penicillium, had killed bacteria on a dish, which led to penicillin; antibiotics only work on bacteria, and tak…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «take» (+3); the same thing acted on «antibiotics» (+2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«a chihuahua and a wolf, no way same family» What is right?

1. Chihuahuas are a kind of fox — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Wolves came from chihuahuas — no support
3. Chihuahuas come from mice that people kept as pets and slowly grew bigger — no support
4. People bred all dogs from wolves by choosing which dogs had puppies — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★★ · right ✓

«broccoli and cabbage are totally different plants mate» What is right?

1. Broccoli grows from potato seeds — no support
2. Broccoli is a kind of small tree that farmers cut down while it is young — no support
3. Cabbage is a kind of lettuce — no support
4. They were bred from the same wild cabbage and are the same species — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 73, line 16: «Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts and kohlrabi are all one species, bred by farmers from wild cabbage that grows on European coastal cliff…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «breed» (+2); the same place «wild cabbage» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★ · right ✓

Count them: 4 elephants walk by, and 2 of them have no tusks. Each elephant with tusks has 2. How many tusks, trunks and tails are there?

1. 4 tusks, 4 trunks and 4 tails — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. 8 tusks, 4 trunks and 4 tails — no support
3. 4 tusks, 2 trunks and 4 tails — no support
4. 2 tusks, 4 trunks and 2 tails — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★ · wrong ✗

What would happen if all the trees near a city became pale again after the soot was cleaned?

1. Pale moths would be hidden and become common again — ✓ the right answer · score 3
2. All moths would leave the city — no support
3. Birds would stop eating moths — score 4
4. Dark moths would turn pale overnight — ← Mova's choice · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 4 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 51, line 15: «In smoky 1800s England, soot blackened tree trunks, so dark peppered moths hid better, birds ate the pale ones they could see, and dark moths became common; wh…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «dark moths» (+3); the same action «become» (+2). The right option, 1, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«the elephants decided to stop growing tusks so poachers leave 'em alone, smart» What is right?

1. Yes, elephants chose to drop their tusks, and they taught their babies to do it too — ← Mova's choice · score 3
2. No, elephants did not decide; tuskless ones survived more and had more babies — ✓ the right answer · score -6
3. No, the tusks were taken by zoos — no support
4. Yes, they talked to each other about it — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 3, against -6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 22, line 11: «Elephants use their tusks to dig for water and salt, strip bark, move things and defend themselves.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «elephants» (+3); the same thing acted on «tusks» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 2, scored -6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★ · wrong ✗

In a cartoon, a mosquito puts on a gas mask and laughs at the bug spray. What is really happening when mosquitoes resist spray?

1. Each mosquito learns to hold its breath for longer every time it is sprayed — ← Mova's choice · score 7
2. Mosquitoes wear tiny masks — score 1
3. A few already tough mosquitoes survive and breed until most are resistant — ✓ the right answer · score -2
4. The spray turns into food — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 1 with score 7, against 1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 266, line 5: «Old pictures put Brontosaurus in a lake to hold up its weight, but footprints and leg bones show sauropods walked on dry land, often in groups with the young i…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «hold up» (+7). The right option, 3, scored -2. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Count them: a stick insect has 6 legs. How many legs do 5 stick insects on a twig have?

1. 20 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 11 — no support
3. 30 — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. 25 — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«why do I have to get a flu jab every year, it's the same flu innit» What is right?

1. Yes, it is the same flu, the jab is just a habit — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Yes, but the jab wears off after a week — no support
3. No, flu turns into a cold each summer — no support
4. No, flu viruses change quickly, so the vaccine is updated — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★ · wrong ✗

A dry year leaves only big, hard seeds on an island. What would happen to the next generation of finches?

1. They would grow teeth to crack the seeds — score 4
2. They would tend to have smaller beaks — ← Mova's choice · score 5
3. They would all stop eating seeds at once — score 1
4. They would tend to have bigger beaks — ✓ the right answer · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 279, line 7: «On the Galapagos Islands, finches have beaks of different shapes for seeds, insects or cactus; in a dry year, finches with bigger beaks survived because only h…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «finches» (+3); the same thing acted on «beaks» (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). The right option, 4, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«my mate's lactose intolerant, means he's ill» What is closer to the truth?

1. It means he drank too much milk as a baby — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Most mammals stop digesting milk after babyhood, so this is normal for many people — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. It means he is allergic to cows — no support
4. It means he has caught a dangerous germ from milk and needs to stay in bed till he is better — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 12 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Count them: a scientist catches 3 lizards before a storm and 2 after. Each lizard has 4 feet. How many feet did she measure in all?

1. 16 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 8 — no support
3. 12 — no support
4. 20 — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓

Identify the principal cause of the increase in dark peppered moths near industrial cities.

1. Dark individuals were concealed upon soot-darkened trees and were less frequently eaten by birds — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
2. Pale moths migrated to the countryside of their own accord — no support
3. Dark moths were deliberately bred by naturalists — no support
4. Factory smoke chemically altered the colour of individual moths — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 279, line 2: «In industrial England, soot blackened the tree trunks, so pale peppered moths stood out and were eaten by birds while dark moths stayed hidden; dark moths beca…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «eat» (+2); the same doer «birds» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the premature discontinuation of a course of antibiotics.

1. It invariably eliminates all bacteria present within the body at once — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It strengthens the antibiotic for future use — no support
3. It permits the more resistant bacteria to survive and multiply — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. It has no consequence of any kind — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises artificial selection?

1. The elimination of organisms by natural catastrophes — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The choice by animals of their own diet — no support
3. The deliberate choice by people of which organisms shall reproduce — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. The spontaneous change of organisms by their own will — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓

Ascertain the reason for which influenza vaccines are revised annually.

1. The influenza virus changes rapidly, rendering earlier vaccines less effective — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Vaccines deteriorate in storage within one month — no support
3. Influenza is replaced each year by the common cold — no support
4. The human body ceases to accept vaccines after one year — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/279-natural-selection-we-can-watch-moths-finches-germs-and-tuskless-elephants/