Fossils

Tests: 5 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 9 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 57 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 ✓

Ben reckons every dead animal turns into a fossil eventually. Right?

1. Yes, every one does after about 100 years — no support
2. No, only animals that died in caves or under the sea — no support
3. No, only a tiny fraction ever become fossils — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
4. Yes, but only the big ones — 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 57, line 1: «A fossil is a message from a living thing that died long ago, usually more than 10,000 years ago. It can be a bone or shell turned to stone, a print of a leaf,…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «bone» (+5); the same action «turn» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★ · wrong ✗

A row of three-toed prints in old rock shows an animal walking. What kind of fossil is it?

1. An amber fossil — ← Mova's choice · score 10
2. A frozen fossil — score 10
3. A body fossil of bones — score 10
4. A trace fossil — ✓ the right answer · score 10

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 10, tied with another option at 10 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 57, line 9: «Ammonites were sea creatures with coiled shells, related to squid, and are very common fossils.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4); it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same thing acted on «sea creatures» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, scored 10. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗

Why does a fish that dies and is buried in mud at once have a better chance of becoming a fossil than one that dies on a beach?

1. Quick burial protects it from rotting and scavengers — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Mud is warmer than sand — ← Mova's choice · score 5
3. Beaches have no oxygen — no support
4. Fish on beaches slowly turn into sand grains in the sun — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 57, line 6: «Most fossils form when a dead plant or animal is quickly buried in mud or sand, which later turns to rock.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «mud» (+3); the same circumstance (+2). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★ · right ✓

A film shows a scientist cutting a fossil open and finding fresh dinosaur blood. What's wrong?

1. Dinosaur blood was solid gold — no support
2. Dinosaurs had no blood — no support
3. Fossils are hollow inside — no support
4. Fossils are usually stone; fresh blood does not last millions of years — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 57, line 5: «A fossil is the preserved remains or trace of a living thing from long ago, usually over 10,000 years old.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «fossil» (+3); the same property (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗

Two cliffs far apart both contain the same short-lived ammonite species. What can geologists say?

1. The rocks are completely different ages, millions of years apart — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Ammonites lived in both cliffs today — no support
3. The rocks are probably about the same age — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. The cliffs were once one giant ammonite — 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 ✓

ugh my brother says "dinosaurs were all scaly lizards, birds are totally different". Fix it.

1. Dinosaurs were all bald — no support
2. Birds are a kind of lizard, not dinosaur, he's half right — score 5
3. Many dinosaurs had feathers, and birds are living dinosaurs — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
4. Dinosaurs were all furry mammals — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 57, line 4: «Because so few living things are buried just right, only a tiny fraction ever become fossils. Still, they tell us that many dinosaurs had feathers and that bir…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «feathers» (+5); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★ · right ✓

People in ancient times found huge bones with beaks in the desert. What legend may this have led to?

1. Griffins — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Unicorns made of glass — no support
3. Mermaids — no support
4. Talking trees — 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 8 · ★ · wrong ✗

Why was Mary Anning's work often not credited in her time?

1. She never found anything at all, she only sold seashells to visitors — score 2
2. She only found fake fossils — ← Mova's choice · score 5
3. She was a poor working-class woman, and men wrote up her finds — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. She hid all her fossils — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 5, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 57, line 3: «Picture Mary Anning, a girl from a poor family in Lyme Regis, hunting along stormy cliffs in the early 1800s. She found the first complete ichthyosaur skeleton…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «find» (+3); the same doer «mary» (+3). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗

What would happen to our knowledge of the past if no mud or sand ever buried dead things?

1. We would have even more fossils, lying about on the ground — ← Mova's choice · score 4
2. Almost no fossils would form, so we would know far less — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Fossils would form in the sky instead — no support
4. Nothing would change — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 1 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 49, line 12: «Most fossils are found in sedimentary rocks, because living things were buried in the layers.», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «most fossils» (+4). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗

A mosquito in a golden stone looks almost alive with wings and legs. Why so perfect?

1. It is a living mosquito sleeping inside — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It was painted on by a jeweller — no support
3. Amber sealed it and kept its soft parts — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. It was frozen solid in Siberian ice — 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 ✓

Which is a fossil?

1. An ammonite shell turned to stone — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 12
2. A seashell washed up on the beach last week — no support
3. A plastic dinosaur toy — no support
4. A chicken bone from lunch — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 12, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 57, line 1: «A fossil is a message from a living thing that died long ago, usually more than 10,000 years ago. It can be a bone or shell turned to stone, a print of a leaf,…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «bone» (+5); the same place «stone» (+4); the same action «turn» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a fossil?

1. The skeleton of an animal deceased within the present year — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Any stone of irregular form discovered in the soil — no support
3. A replica of an organism fashioned in plaster — no support
4. The preserved remains or trace of an organism of considerable antiquity — ✓ 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 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the principal condition favouring the formation of a fossil.

1. Immersion of the organism in molten lava — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Rapid burial of the organism in sediment subsequently lithified — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Consumption of the organism by scavengers — no support
4. Prolonged exposure of the organism to sunlight upon the open ground — 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 ✗

Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the use of fossils in the dating of rocks.

1. The size of a fossil is proportional to its age — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. All fossils bear an inscription of the year of death — no support
3. Species of brief duration but wide distribution permit rocks to be correlated in age — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Fossils are invariably situated at an identical depth — 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 relationship which is presently accepted between birds and dinosaurs.

1. Birds are descended from bats — no support
2. Birds preceded all dinosaurs by a billion years — score 3
3. Birds are themselves dinosaurs, descended from feathered forms — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
4. Birds and dinosaurs are wholly unrelated — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 5, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 57, line 4: «Because so few living things are buried just right, only a tiny fraction ever become fossils. Still, they tell us that many dinosaurs had feathers and that bir…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «dinosaurs» (+5). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/57-fossils/