Test 10 · ★★ · The four tones: same sound, different meaning
Ming's sister says «nǐ hǎo ma?» What is she asking?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: sister · What happens: say, ask · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 10 · ★★ of lesson 2 «The four tones: same sound, different meaning» of the Chinese street course of Mova's primary school. 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
Sentence 1: Ming's sister says «nǐ hǎo ma?»
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ming | Ming | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 sister | nmod:poss |
| 2 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 1 Ming | case |
| 3 | sister | sister | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 says | nsubj |
| 4 | says | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | « | « | PUNCT | _ | 8 ma | punct |
| 6 | nǐ | nǐ | X | Foreign=Yes | 8 ma | dep |
| 7 | hǎo | hǎo | X | _ | 8 ma | compound |
| 8 | ma | ma | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 says | ccomp |
| 9 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 8 ma | punct |
| 10 | » | » | PUNCT | _ | 8 ma | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | present | Ming's sister | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
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.
Sentence 2: What is she asking?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 4 asking | obj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 asking | aux |
| 3 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 asking | nsubj |
| 4 | asking | ask | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 5 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 4 asking | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ask speech: ask | present · progressive | sister | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent what=Recipient |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
Are you well?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 well | cop |
| 2 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 3 well | nsubj |
| 3 | well | well | ADV | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 3 well | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | you | well property | tree rules |
Option 2
Where are you going?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 4 going | advmod |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 going | aux |
| 3 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 4 going | nsubj |
| 4 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 5 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 4 going | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | present · progressive | you | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
Option 3
Are you a horse?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 horse | cop |
| 2 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 4 horse | nsubj |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 horse | det |
| 4 | horse | horse | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 5 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 4 horse | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | you | a horse | tree rules |
Option 4
Hello, Mum!
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hello | hello | INTJ | _ | 3 Mum | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 Mum | punct |
| 3 | Mum | mum | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | ! | ! | PUNCT | _ | 3 Mum | punct |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
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/t10/