Try It: Other Parts of Speech

This activity is not graded. The text fields below are purely for self-reflection; you do not need to submit anything for this assignment.

Identify

Read the following paragraphs. Identify the conjunctions, prepositions, and articles. Record your answers in the text frame below:

Often the early evolution of dinosaurs is an overlooked part of their tale, ignored in favor of the more dramatic tales of their later extinctions. It is also a fairly poorly understood part of their evolution; the timing and actual mechanism that drove them to become the most successful land group ever is still somewhat a mystery. We are, however, learning more and more about this important phase of their history: the time known as the Late Triassic, which took place some 231–201 million years ago. A new fossil site from this time in Poland is helping to fill in the blanks.

A dinosaur that likely walked on all fours. It had narrow legs and a long tail.

Life restoration of Silesaurus

So what is present in this new site? One animal is known as a silesaurid—a weird reptile from a group of dinosaur-like relatives called a dinosauriform, known just from a thigh bone. Another is probably one of the most ancestral theropod dinosaurs, typically known from South America, called a herrerasaurid; however, there’s still some debate about what position these guys occupied around the origin of dinosaurs. Other specimens include a definite theropod dinosaur (known from parts of the hip bones) as well as a neotheropod (known from a portion of the tibia).

Contribute!

Did you have an idea for improving this content? We’d love your input.

Improve this pageLearn More