Exam question 3 · Happy, angry, bored, scared

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the utterance "nǐ zhēn wúliáo" when directed at a person?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, direct · To what, where: utterance

This is exam question 3 of lesson 16 «Happy, angry, bored, scared» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 utterance	det
10	utterance	utterance	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 zhēn	punct
12	nǐ	nǐ	X	Foreign=Yes	13 zhēn	flat
13	zhēn	zhēn	X	Foreign=Yes	10 utterance	appos
14	wúliáo	wúliáo	X	Foreign=Yes	13 zhēn	flat
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 zhēn	punct
16	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	17 directed	advmod
17	directed	direct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 characterises	advcl
18	at	at	ADP	_	20 person	case
19	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	20 person	det
20	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 directed	obl
21	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the utterance	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	direct	participle		at a person	vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.predicate»: agent=Agent at person=Eventuality

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 is a declaration that the speaker himself is bored

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	4 declaration	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 declaration	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 declaration	det
4	declaration	declaration	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	10 bored	mark
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 speaker	det
7	speaker	speaker	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 bored	nsubj
8	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Emp Reflex=Yes	7 speaker	nmod:unmarked
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 bored	cop
10	bored	bored	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 declaration	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a declaration					tree rules
2	is	present	the speaker speaker					bored property	tree rules

Option 2

It is an invitation to play

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	4 invitation	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 invitation	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 invitation	det
4	invitation	invitation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 play	mark
6	play	play	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 invitation	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a invitation					tree rules
2	play	to-infinitive							vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

It is a formal greeting

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	5 greeting	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 greeting	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 greeting	det
4	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 greeting	amod
5	greeting	greeting	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a formal greeting					tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It is a disparaging remark meaning "you are so boring"

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	5 remark	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 remark	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 remark	det
4	disparaging	disparage	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 remark	amod
5	remark	remark	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	meaning	mean	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 remark	acl
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 boring	punct
8	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	11 boring	nsubj
9	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 boring	cop
10	so	so	ADV	_	11 boring	advmod
11	boring	boring	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 meaning	ccomp
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 boring	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	disparage	gerund				vn reject-77.2-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	is a	present	It	a disparaging remark		tree rules
3	mean	gerund	a disparaging remark not said here			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
4	is in a quote	present	you		boring property	tree rules

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.

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