"In the olden days": Grandad's 1990
Tests: 7 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 6 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 126 of the world 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 ✓
Grandad: "No phones in our pockets in 1990." Kai: "So, like, the Middle Ages, then." Fix it.
- 1. 1990 was 36 years ago; the Middle Ages ended about 500 years ago — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 2. Kai's right: 1990 was in the Middle Ages — no support
- 3. The Middle Ages ended in 1990 — score 6
- 4. 1990 was about 1,000 years ago — score 6
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. 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 126, line 1: «To a child, anything before they were born feels ancient, but dates let you check. 1990 is 36 years before 2026, about 3 and a half times a 10-year-old's life,…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «end» (+4); the same doer «middle ages» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · right ✓
Grandad: "Green and black screen, and we loved it, you ungrateful lot!" Which machine is he on about?
- 1. YouTube, from 2005 — no support
- 2. The smartphone, from 2007 — no support
- 3. A tablet, from 2010 — no support
- 4. The Game Boy, from 1989 — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 126, line 3: «Every time had its own exciting tech. The Game Boy of 1989 had a small greenish screen and kids loved it as much as kids love new consoles now; music came on c…», 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 doer «game boy» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · right ✓
Mum: "Beep, screech, kshhh, that was the internet connecting." Ava: "Your WiFi screamed? I'm crying." ("I'm crying" means I'm laughing so much.) What made the noise?
- 1. A dial-up modem sending signals down the phone line — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
- 2. A radio playing in the next room — no support
- 3. A WiFi router from the 1990s that was starting to break down — no support
- 4. The computer's fan breaking down — no support
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 126, line 8: «In the 1990s home internet used the phone line through a dial-up modem, which could take about 30 seconds to connect with beeps and screeches and was far too s…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «up modem» (+1); a different action (counts against) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · right ✓
Ella: "Was there YouTube when you were 10, Grandad?" He was 10 in 1980. What's right?
- 1. Yes, but only in black and white — no support
- 2. Yes, YouTube started in 1975 — score 6
- 3. No, but everyone had smartphones — no support
- 4. No; the web went public in 1991 and YouTube started in 2005 — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 8, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 126, line 2: «Many everyday things are new. The World Wide Web went public in 1991, YouTube started in 2005, and smartphones became common after 2007. When Grandad was 10, i…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «start» (+3); the same doer «youtube» (+3); the same place «2005» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · right ✓
Taras: "Dad was born in 1991. So Ukraine and Dad are the same age?" Is he right?
- 1. No, Ukraine is 1,544 years old, the same age as Kyiv — score 5
- 2. Yes, Ukraine declared independence in August 1991 — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 13
- 3. No, Ukraine only became independent much later, in 2001 — score 9
- 4. No, Ukraine became independent long before, in 1969 — score 9
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 13, against 9 for the next best. Its support: lesson 126, line 10: «Ukraine declared independence on 24 August 1991, 35 years before 2026.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «declare» (+4); the same place «24 august» (+4); the same thing acted on «independence» (+3); the same doer «ukraine» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · right ✓
Grandad, a proper Geordie (from Newcastle): "Sweets were 10p, man, now they're a quid, it's daylight robbery!" ("A quid" means £1.) What's the honest reply?
- 1. Pennies were worth less in the old days, so sweets were cheaper still — no support
- 2. The shop is cheating him out of 90p — no support
- 3. Prices rise over time, but people's pay was lower then too — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 4. Sweets cost 100 times more now — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 126, line 11: «Prices rising over the years is called inflation; £1 is 100p, which is 10 times 10p.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «rise» (+3); the same doer «prices» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · right ✓
Lily: "Why's this 1975 photo all orange and fuzzy? Was the world orange?"
- 1. The film has faded with age — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. The Sun was redder in the 1970s — no support
- 3. Everything in 1975 was painted orange — no support
- 4. Cameras then added orange on purpose — 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 8 · wrong ✗
Josh: "Mum, were you alive in the 1900s?" She sighs: "Born 1989, so technically yes. Cheers." What's true?
- 1. 1989 is in the 21st century — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The 1900s ended in 1950 — no support
- 3. 1989 is in the 1800s — no support
- 4. 1989 is in the 1900s, the 20th century — ✓ 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 9 · wrong ✗
Grandad: "Watched the Moon landing at 7, back in '69." Leo: "So how old are you now?" It's 2026.
- 1. About 57 — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. About 64 — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. About 69 — no support
- 4. About 76 — 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 ✗
Ava's dad: "Back in the day, we rewound cassettes with a pencil." Ava: "Back in what day?" What does he mean?
- 1. One special day in history — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. When he was young, before music was on phones — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. In the Middle Ages — no support
- 4. Yesterday, before school — 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 · wrong ✗
What would happen if you tried to watch a film online at home in 1995?
- 1. It would be completely free and start instantly — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. It would work fine, but only on the big family TV — no support
- 3. You couldn't really: dial-up was far too slow — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. It would load in a second, just like it does now — 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 · wrong ✗
Ascertain the interval elapsed between the year 1990 and the year 2026.
- 1. Three hundred and sixty years — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Twenty-six years — no support
- 3. Thirty-six years — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Forty-six years — 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
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Identify the principal reason for which a household telephone line could not be employed for calls during an internet session in the 1990s.
- 1. Telephone calls were prohibited by law during such sessions — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The connection to the internet occupied that same telephone line — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Calls could be made only after midnight — no support
- 4. The modem disabled all telephones within the district — 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 ✓
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the phenomenon designated inflation?
- 1. A general increase in prices over a period of time — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. The printing of banknotes in brighter colours — no support
- 3. A general reduction in prices over a period of time — no support
- 4. The closure of shops at an earlier hour — 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 · wrong ✗
Given that a person was seven years of age at the first Moon landing in 1969, determine that person's approximate age in the year 2026.
- 1. Sixty-nine years — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Seventy-six years — no support
- 3. Sixty-four years — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Fifty-seven years — 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/world/126-in-the-olden-days/