Exam question 2 · Dinner at the friend's house

Ascertain the principal reason for which chopsticks should not be placed upright in a bowl of rice.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, not place · To what, where: principal reason, chopsticks, bowl

This is exam question 2 of lesson 11 «Dinner at the friend's house» of the Chinese street course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: the test at school.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 placed	obl
7	chopsticks	chopstick	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 placed	nsubj:pass
8	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 placed	aux
9	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	11 placed	advmod
10	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	11 placed	aux:pass
11	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
12	upright	upright	ADV	_	11 placed	advmod
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 bowl	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 bowl	det
15	bowl	bowl	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 placed	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	17 rice	case
17	rice	rice	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 bowl	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	not place	should · passive		chopsticks		a bowl of rice		for the principal reason; upright property	vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in bowl=Destination

One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

It signifies that the meal is unsatisfactory to the guest

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 unsatisfactory	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 meal	det
5	meal	meal	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 unsatisfactory	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 unsatisfactory	cop
7	unsatisfactory	unsatisfactory	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 signifies	ccomp
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 guest	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 guest	det
10	guest	guest	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 unsatisfactory	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	present	It						vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot
2	is	present	the meal					to the guest; unsatisfactory property	tree rules

Option 2

It obstructs other diners

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 obstructs	nsubj
2	obstructs	obstruct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 diners	amod
4	diners	diner	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 obstructs	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	obstruct	present	It	other diners					vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer diner=Eventuality

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The arrangement resembles incense offered at funerals

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 arrangement	det
2	arrangement	arrangement	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 resembles	nsubj
3	resembles	resemble	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	incense	incense	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 resembles	obj
5	offered	offer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 incense	acl
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 funerals	case
7	funerals	funeral	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 offered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	resemble	present	the arrangement	incense					tree rules
2	offer	participle		incense not said here		funerals			vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent

Option 4

It damages the chopsticks irreparably

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 damages	nsubj
2	damages	damage	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 chopsticks	det
4	chopsticks	chopstick	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 damages	obj
5	irreparably	irreparably	ADV	_	2 damages	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	damage	present	It	the chopsticks				irreparably property	vn destroy-44 «NP.instrument V NP»: agent=Instrument chopstick=Patient

Text: the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (world/data/school/), as the course runner gave them to the student. Trees: Mova's own parse — the en model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/11-dinner-at-the-friends-house/e2/