Moving continents: from Pangaea to today

Tests: 7 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★★★ · Understood: 11 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 43 of the geography 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 ✓

Your friend says: "The continents have always been where they are now, maps never change." Put her right.

1. They move, but only in big earthquakes, a whole kilometre at a time — score 3
2. They drift a few cm a year, and once were joined in Pangaea — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
3. They used to be much further apart than today — no support
4. She's right, only the oceans move — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 43, line 15: «Scientists predict the continents will join again in about 200-250 million years, though they argue about the exact shape.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «join» (+3); the same doer «continents» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

"if pangaea was still a thing could i walk from london to new york?"

1. Yes, but only by swimming across Panthalassa — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Yes, the land was joined, though deserts and mountains would be in the way — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. No, London and New York were on different planets back then — no support
4. No, there was no land at all back then — 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 ✓

A cartoon shows dinosaurs watching humans build a city on Pangaea. What's wrong?

1. Dinosaurs lived only after the continents split — score 6
2. Humans appeared only a few hundred thousand years ago, long after Pangaea — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
3. Pangaea was too cold for dinosaurs — no support
4. Nothing, humans and dinosaurs lived on Pangaea together for millions of years — score 7

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 8, against 7 for the next best. Its support: lesson 43, line 8: «Dinosaurs lived on Pangaea, but humans appeared only a few hundred thousand years ago, long after it split.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «appear» (+3); the same doer «humans» (+3); the same property (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★★ · right ✓

A geologist finds the same 270-million-year-old reptile fossil in Brazil and South Africa. What is the best explanation?

1. The reptile lived everywhere on Earth at once — no support
2. The fossil was copied by a museum — score 4
3. The two lands were joined when the reptile lived — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
4. The reptile swam right across the wide Atlantic Ocean — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 43, line 11: «Fossils of the same reptiles, Mesosaurus and Lystrosaurus, are found on continents now separated by oceans that these animals could never have crossed.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same thing acted on «continents» (+3). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

Why can't the jigsaw fit of South America and Africa be perfect along today's beaches?

1. The pieces were never joined at all — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Someone measured the maps wrongly — no support
3. The continents shrank in the cold of the last Ice Age, so they no longer quite meet — no support
4. Coasts have been worn and flooded; the shelves under the sea fit better — ✓ 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 6 · ★★★ · right ✓

What would happen to the Mediterranean if Africa kept pushing north for tens of millions of years?

1. Nothing, Africa is moving south — score 2
2. It could close and new mountains could rise where it was — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
3. It would grow into a huge ocean — no support
4. It would turn into a desert by next century, as the Sahara spreads north — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 43, line 16: «Africa is pushing slowly north into Europe, squeezing the Mediterranean, which may close in tens of millions of years.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «close» (+2); the same doer «mediterranean» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★★ · right ✓

India moves about 5 cm a year now. "hang on, how did it get from near Antarctica to Asia then?"

1. It was towed by strong sea currents in just a few years — no support
2. It raced north faster, up to about 15 cm a year, for tens of millions of years — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
3. It was blown there by a giant volcano — no support
4. It sank and came back up in Asia — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 43, line 13: «India broke away from Gondwana and raced north at up to about 15 cm a year (today it moves about 5 cm a year), hitting Asia about 50 million years ago and push…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «race» (+2); the same place «15 cm» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★★ · right ✓

Tom says: "Coal under Britain proves Britain used to be a jungle in the same place." What's the best correction?

1. Britain was a swampy forest, but because it lay near the equator then — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
2. No, coal was made by volcanoes only — score 6
3. No, coal comes from old ice, not plants — no support
4. He's right, the equator itself moved north to Britain — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 9, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 43, line 4: «The same fossil reptiles turn up on continents now oceans apart, and Britain has coal from tropical swamps and Antarctica has fossil forests, because those lan…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same thing acted on «fossil forests» (+3); its «because» matches the remembered cause (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

A clever puzzle: the Atlantic opens a few cm a year and is about 5,000 km wide. Roughly how long did it take to open?

1. About 10 billion years, longer than the Earth — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. About 1,000 years, since the Vikings — no support
3. About 50,000 years, give or take — no support
4. About 100-200 million years — ✓ 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 10 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

Mia thinks Pangaea was the only supercontinent ever. What's true?

1. Supercontinents form and break up again and again, like Rodinia before it — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Pangaea was the first and there will never be another one like it — ← Mova's choice · score 9
3. There were never any supercontinents, it is a myth — no support
4. Rodinia came after Pangaea broke up — score 3

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 9, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 43, line 14: «Pangaea was not the first supercontinent: earlier ones such as Rodinia, about 1 billion years ago, came together and split too.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «first supercontinent» (+6); the same circumstance (+4); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2); the same doer «pangaea» (+1). Against it: one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-4). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★★★ · right ✓

"so in 250 million yrs it's all one big blob of land again, right, 100% sure?"

1. No, the continents will stop for good — no support
2. No, the continents will all sink — no support
3. Yes, exactly like Pangaea again, and every scientist is certain of it — no support
4. Probably, but scientists still argue about the exact shape — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 43, line 15: «Scientists predict the continents will join again in about 200-250 million years, though they argue about the exact shape.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «argue» (+3); the same circumstance (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · 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 supercontinent Pangaea?

1. The final supercontinent, after which no other shall form — score 2
2. An oceanic basin that occupied the present position of the Pacific — no support
3. A landmass that formed approximately fifty million years ago in Asia — ← Mova's choice · score 3
4. A landmass comprising almost all continental crust, extant some 300-200 million years ago — ✓ the right answer · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 3, tied with another option at 3 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 43, line 1: «If you could rewind the Earth like a film, you would see the continents slide together until, about 300-200 million years ago, almost all the land was one gian…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «land» (+1). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the evidence that is consistent with the hypothesis that the continents were formerly contiguous.

1. Identical fossil reptiles upon continents now separated by oceans — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. The absence of any mountain ranges upon the continents — no support
3. The present equality of the areas of all continents — no support
4. The identical climate prevailing upon every continent at the present day — ← Mova's choice · score 2

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 27, line 1: «Britain cannot grow bananas outdoors, and Ecuador does not build many jet engines, so each sells what it is good at and buys the rest. That is trade, and it is…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same place «five continents» (+2); the same action «hold» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓

It is given that substantial deposits of coal are present beneath Great Britain. Identify the principal reason for their formation.

1. Coal forms exclusively beneath regions of cold climate — no support
2. Coal was deposited by volcanic eruptions in historic times — no support
3. Britain formerly lay near the equator and supported swamp forests — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
4. Coal was transported thither by glaciers from Scandinavia — score 1

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 8, against 1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 43, line 17: «Moving continents changed climates: Antarctica once had forests, and coal is found under Britain, which lay near the equator about 300 million years ago.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same place «equator» (+4); the same action «lie» (+3); the same doer «britain» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the Atlantic Ocean.

1. It is presently contracting at a rate of several metres annually as Africa advances — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It came into existence within the last ten thousand years — no support
3. It began to open approximately 180 million years ago and continues to widen — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. It is coeval with the Earth and has not altered in width — 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/geography/43-moving-continents-from-pangaea-to-today/