Microbes: bacteria and viruses, good and bad

Tests: 7 of 12 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 11 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 63 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 ✗

are germs all bad?? my teacher said u need some

1. Yes, every microbe makes you ill — ← Mova's choice · score 2
2. No, germs are all good and not a single one of them can ever harm you — no support
3. Yes, but only the ones in water — no support
4. No, most microbes are harmless or helpful, like those in your gut — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 63, line 4: «A few are germs that make us ill, and viruses are stranger still: much smaller than bacteria, they cannot do anything on their own and only copy themselves ins…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same property (+3); the same action «make» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-3). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★ · wrong ✗

just give me antibiotics for this cold doc, I've got a match saturday

1. Only if you take double — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Yes, but only with orange juice — no support
3. Fine, they cure any cold in a day — no support
4. They won't help: a cold is a virus, and antibiotics work on bacteria — ✓ 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 · ★★ · wrong ✗

What would happen if everyone stopped washing their hands before meals?

1. Food would taste better — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Nothing, germs cannot live on hands — no support
3. Everyone would become immune at once and never get ill again — no support
4. More germs would spread and more people would get ill — ✓ 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 4 · ★★ · right ✓

In a cartoon, a germ is a green monster as big as a football that you can punch. Put it right.

1. Germs are visible as a cloud of green smoke when you sneeze — no support
2. Real germs are far too small to see without a microscope — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
3. Germs are as big as cats — no support
4. Germs can be caught with a net — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 44, line 3: «Squeeze a clump of wet moss from a wall into a dish and under a microscope you may see water bears, tiny eight-legged tardigrades plodding about like chubby be…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «see» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★ · right ✓

Tom says his fever is the illness itself, so it must be cooled to zero at once. Right?

1. No, a fever means you are getting better already and it will stop soon — score 4
2. No, a fever is the body turning up its heat to help fight germs — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
3. Yes, a fever is a germ that lives in the head — no support
4. Yes, body heat itself is a disease — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 63, line 15: «A fever means the body has turned up its thermostat to around 38 to 39 degrees instead of about 37, which helps the immune system fight germs.», reached through what was said in the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «turn up» (+4); the same doer «body» (+4). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★ · right ✓

Why was smallpox the first disease to be wiped out from the whole world?

1. Vaccines protected so many that the virus had nowhere left to spread — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 2
2. Smallpox germs died of old age — no support
3. The disease moved to animals only — no support
4. Doctors found and killed every smallpox germ with soap — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 63, line 14: «Smallpox, once one of the deadliest diseases, was wiped out from the whole world by vaccination, and this was declared in 1980: so many people were protected t…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «leave» (+2); its «because» matches the remembered cause (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★ · right ✓

A friend sneezes into his hand, then grabs the door handle. What has probably happened?

1. Cold viruses may now be on the handle for the next person — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
2. The viruses died as soon as they left his nose — no support
3. Nothing, colds only spread through cold winter air, not on hands — score 3
4. The handle has made the viruses stronger — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 63, line 10: «Soap breaks up the greasy layer that germs cling to and running water rinses them away; washing for about 20 seconds gives it time to work; cold viruses spread…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «cold viruses» (+2); the same place «hands» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★ · wrong ✗

A dentist gives Ana a pink tablet to chew and her teeth go pink in spots. What do the pink spots show?

1. Food colouring left on her teeth from her breakfast cereal — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Plaque, the sticky film of bacteria she missed brushing — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Holes that are already in her teeth — no support
4. Places where her teeth are strongest — 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 · ★★ · right ✓

the yoghurt says live cultures on it, is it gone off?

1. No, it means it was made yesterday — no support
2. Yes, it means it is alive and will grow out of the pot if you leave it — no support
3. No, live cultures are the friendly bacteria that made the yoghurt — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
4. Yes, it is full of bad germs — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 63, line 9: «Yoghurt is milk changed by friendly bacteria, which eat the milk sugar and make lactic acid that thickens the milk and makes it tangy; «live cultures» on a pot…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «friendly bacteria» (+5); the same action «make» (+4). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★ · right ✓

Some microbes live in boiling hot springs. What does that tell scientists?

1. Hot springs make new microbes out of the rocks — no support
2. Hot water is the only place life can exist — no support
3. Life can survive in places once thought impossible — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 11
4. All microbes love boiling water — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 11, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 63, line 17: «Some microbes live in extreme places, such as boiling hot springs; the bright rings of Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone are mats of different microbes liv…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «survive» (+4); the same doer «life» (+4); the same place «places» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★★ · right ✓

Why must you finish a course of antibiotics as the doctor says?

1. Unfinished pills explode in the box — no support
2. Stopping early can leave tougher bacteria that may grow back — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 2
3. Your body needs the rest as food — no support
4. It makes the medicine taste much better next time you are ill — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 63, line 12: «Antibiotics kill bacteria or stop them growing but do nothing to viruses, so they do not help colds or flu, and using them when not needed helps bacteria becom…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «stop» (+1); the same property (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 12 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Leeuwenhoek wrote about «little animals» in his tooth scrapings. Why did people not see them before?

1. Microbes did not exist before 1683 — score 2
2. People were not allowed to look at teeth before then — no support
3. Microbes only lived in Dutch mouths — ← Mova's choice · score 5
4. Nobody had lenses powerful enough to see microbes — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score 5, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 63, line 1: «Microbes are living things far too small to see; a thousand bacteria in a row would just about stretch across a pinhead.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «live» (+3); the same doer «microbes» (+2). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓

Identify the principal reason for which antibiotic medication is ineffective against the common cold.

1. The common cold is not an infection of any kind, being caused by low temperature — no support
2. The cold virus is too large for antibiotics to penetrate — no support
3. The common cold is caused by a virus, upon which antibiotics have no effect — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
4. Antibiotics act only on fungi — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 63, line 11: «A cold is caused by a virus; a virus is much smaller than a bacterium and can only copy itself inside a living cell.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «cause» (+2); the same doer «virus» (+1); the same thing acted on «cold» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the mode of action of a vaccine?

1. It destroys all microorganisms within the body, both harmful and benign — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It raises the body's temperature permanently — no support
3. It exposes the immune system to a harmless form or part of a pathogen — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. It replaces the immune system entirely — 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 · right ✓

It is given that milk is left at room temperature for one day. Ascertain the principal cause of its souring.

1. The absorption of oxygen by the sugar — no support
2. The evaporation of water from the milk — no support
3. The multiplication of bacteria producing acid — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 11
4. The action of light upon the fat — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 11, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 63, line 18: «Milk left out on a warm table goes sour because bacteria multiply fast in warmth and make acid; the fridge slows them down.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «bacteria» (+5); the same action «make» (+4); the same thing acted on «acid» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the bacteria of the human gut.

1. They are few in number and wholly harmful — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. They are present only during illness — no support
3. They number some tens of trillions and are mostly beneficial — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. They are identical to viruses in their size and in their manner of life — 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/63-microbes-bacteria-and-viruses/