Evolution simply: why living things change over many generations
Tests: 5 of 11 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 9 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 73 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 · ★ · right ✓
In a game, a creature glows and «evolves» into a new form in one battle. What is wrong?
- 1. Only plants evolve, never animals — no support
- 2. It should take a whole week, not one battle — no support
- 3. Nothing, real animals can change into a new form when they win a fight — no support
- 4. Evolution happens to whole populations over many generations — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 10
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 10, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 73, line 4: «In games and cartoons a creature «evolves» in a flash of light into a new form; real evolution never happens to one animal in its life, it happens to a whole p…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «happen» (+4); the same place «many generations» (+3); the same circumstance (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★ · wrong ✗
«my uncle says we came from monkeys, so why are there still chimps» What is right?
- 1. Chimps are humans who stopped evolving long ago and stayed in the trees — ← Mova's choice · score 5
- 2. Humans came from today's gorillas instead — score 0
- 3. Chimps will turn into humans soon — score 4
- 4. We did not come from today's chimps; both lines are cousins — ✓ the right answer · score 4
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 17, line 8: «It is a myth that people came from chimps: chimps and humans are cousins who both changed from a common ancestor.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+3); the same doer «chimps» (+1); the same thing acted on «cousins» (+1). The right option, 4, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗
«if I do loads of push-ups my kids'll be born strong, right» What is right?
- 1. Yes, but only push-ups, not running — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. No, children are always weaker than their parents, whatever they do — no support
- 3. No, muscles built in life do not change the genes you pass on — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Yes, every bit of exercise you do is passed on to your children — 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 · ★ · wrong ✗
What would happen to a bright green caterpillar living on brown bark with many birds around?
- 1. Birds would spot it easily, so fewer green ones would survive — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. It would turn itself brown in a few minutes on purpose to hide — no support
- 3. It would grow a hard shell to protect itself — ← Mova's choice · score 9
- 4. Birds never eat caterpillars, so nothing — score 2
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 9, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 51, line 17: «Young swallowtail caterpillars look like shiny bird droppings, and older ones, too big to pass as a dropping, turn green with fake eye spots like a little snak…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «young swallowtail caterpillars» (+5); the same action «turn» (+4). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗
«doc said finish all the antibiotics but I feel fine, sod it» Why finish the course?
- 1. It doesn't matter, bacteria cannot change — no support
- 2. Antibiotics only start working properly on the very last day of the course — ← Mova's choice · score 6
- 3. Stopping early can leave the toughest bacteria alive to multiply — ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 4. The last pills taste best — no support
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. 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 same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «antibiotics» (+4); the same action «work» (+2). The right option, 3, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗
Why would a fast-breeding creature like a bacterium evolve faster than an elephant?
- 1. Big animals are too heavy to change — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Elephants do not have genes — no support
- 3. Bacteria are much cleverer than elephants and plan their changes — no support
- 4. Many more generations pass in the same time, so changes add up — ✓ 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 7 · ★ · right ✓
«polar bears are white bears with white skin, obviously» What is right?
- 1. Their fur is made of clear hairs and their skin is black — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 2. Their skin is pink and their fur is grey — no support
- 3. Their fur is coated in white snow that never melts — no support
- 4. Yes, white fur on white skin, like snow — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 73, line 13: «Polar bears evolved from brown bears within the last few hundred thousand years; their fur is made of clear hairs and their skin is black.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same property (+2); the same doer «skin» (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★ · right ✓
A farmer wants a cabbage with huge flower buds. What should she do?
- 1. Keep seeds from the plants with the biggest buds, year after year — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
- 2. Water them with milk — no support
- 3. Plant them upside down — no support
- 4. Shout at the plants every morning until they grow bigger buds out of fear — score 4
Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 1 with score 8, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 70, line 3: «Your tongue's bumps hold taste buds for sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami, and every part of the tongue can taste all five; the old «tongue map» is a myth.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+5); the same circumstance (+4); the same action «hold» (+3). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2); a different thing acted on (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★ · right ✓
A chihuahua and a Great Dane sniff each other at the park. What is true?
- 1. The chihuahua came from a fox — no support
- 2. They are the same species, both descended from wolves — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
- 3. They are different species that just look alike — score 7
- 4. The Great Dane came from a horse — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 24, line 10: «All pet dogs come from wolves tamed probably more than 15,000 years ago, and a chihuahua and a Great Dane are the same species.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «same species» (+5); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗
«Darwin just made it up one day, didn't he» What is right?
- 1. Yes, he dreamt the whole idea on the Beagle one stormy night — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. He gathered evidence for over 20 years before publishing in 1859 — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. He made it up in 1950 — no support
- 4. He copied it from Wallace's book — 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 11 · ★ · right ✓
Why would a sea animal like a whale still breathe air with lungs?
- 1. Its ancestors were land mammals with lungs — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 2. Whales are fish that learned to hold their breath — score 6
- 3. Whale gills stopped working in the last century — no support
- 4. Lungs are better than gills for drinking sea water — score 4
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 6, tied with another option at 6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 26, line 1: «Whales are mammals, not fish: they breathe air, are warm-blooded, give birth to live babies and feed them milk, and their ancestors were land mammals that went…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «ancestors» (+4); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the process of natural selection?
- 1. A single organism is transformed into a new species within its own lifetime — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Individual organisms deliberately alter their bodies in response to need — no support
- 3. Variants conferring an advantage in survival become more frequent over generations — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Characteristics acquired by exercise during life are transmitted to offspring — 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 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Identify the principal reason for which dark peppered moths increased in frequency in nineteenth-century England.
- 1. Dark moths migrated in great numbers from continental Europe — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The moths elected to darken their wings so as to match the trees upon which they rested — no support
- 3. Predation by birds fell more heavily upon pale moths on soot-darkened trunks — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Soot deposited upon the moths permanently coloured their wings — 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 ✓
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the relationship between humans and chimpanzees.
- 1. No relationship of descent exists between the two — no support
- 2. Humans are directly descended from the chimpanzees of the present day — no support
- 3. The two share a common ancestor which lived some six to seven million years ago — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 4. Chimpanzees are directly descended from early humans living in Africa some million years ago — score 1
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 4, against 1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 73, line 12: «Humans and chimpanzees share a common ancestor from about 6 to 7 million years ago, so they are cousins; humans did not come from today's chimps.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «common ancestor» (+5); the same action «share» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓
State the name of the publication of Charles Darwin which appeared in the year 1859.
- 1. On the Origin of Species — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. The Natural History of Selborne — no support
- 3. The Descent of the Beagle — no support
- 4. The Voyage of the Galapagos — 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/73-evolution-simply/