Exam question 4 · The four tones: same sound, different meaning

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the utterance «wǒ yào shuìjiào», both principal syllables bearing the falling tone?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: principal syllables · What happens: follow, characteris, bear, fall · To what, where: utterance, falling tone

This is exam question 4 of lesson 2 «The four tones: same sound, different meaning» 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	_	12 wǒ	punct
12	wǒ	wǒ	X	Foreign=Yes	10 utterance	appos
13	yào	yào	X	Foreign=Yes	12 wǒ	flat:foreign
14	shuìjiào	shuìjiào	X	_	12 wǒ	flat:foreign
15	»	»	PUNCT	_	12 wǒ	punct
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 syllables	punct
17	both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	19 syllables	det
18	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 syllables	amod
19	syllables	syllable	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 utterance	appos
20	bearing	bear	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	19 syllables	acl
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 tone	det
22	falling	fall	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	23 tone	amod
23	tone	tone	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 bearing	obj
24	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	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	bear	gerund	both principal syllables not said here	the falling tone		vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tone=Patient
4	fall	gerund				vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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 · ✓ the right answer

It expresses a desire to sleep

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 expresses	nsubj
2	expresses	express	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 desire	det
4	desire	desire	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 expresses	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 sleep	mark
6	sleep	sleep	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 desire	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	express	present	It	a desire					vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme desire=Reflexive
2	sleep	to-infinitive		a desire not said here					vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

It expresses a desire for boiled dumplings

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 expresses	nsubj
2	expresses	express	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 desire	det
4	desire	desire	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 expresses	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 dumplings	case
6	boiled	boil	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 dumplings	amod
7	dumplings	dumpling	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 desire	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	express	present	It	a desire				for boiled dumplings	vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme desire=Reflexive
2	boil	participle							vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 3

It constitutes a request for sweets

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 constitutes	nsubj
2	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 request	det
4	request	request	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitutes	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 sweets	case
6	sweets	sweet	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 request	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	present	It	a request				for sweets	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme request=Pivot

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

It is an enquiry concerning the hour

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 enquiry	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 enquiry	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 enquiry	det
4	enquiry	enquiry	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 enquiry	acl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 hour	det
7	hour	hour	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 concerning	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a enquiry					tree rules
2	concern	gerund	a enquiry not said here				hour		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

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/2-the-four-tones/e4/