Test 8 · ★★ · The four tones: same sound, different meaning
At dim sum you ask for a leopard. What did you probably mean?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ask, mean · To what, where: dim sum
This is test 8 · ★★ 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: At dim sum you ask for a leopard.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | At | at | ADP | _ | 3 sum | case |
| 2 | dim | dim | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 sum | amod |
| 3 | sum | sum | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 ask | obl |
| 4 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 5 ask | nsubj |
| 5 | ask | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | for | for | ADP | _ | 8 leopard | case |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 leopard | det |
| 8 | leopard | leopard | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 ask | obl |
| 9 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 ask | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ask speech: ask | present | you | dim sum | for a leopard | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: 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 did you probably mean?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 5 mean | obj |
| 2 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 mean | aux |
| 3 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 5 mean | nsubj |
| 4 | probably | probably | ADV | _ | 5 mean | advmod |
| 5 | mean | mean | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 6 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 5 mean | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mean | past · do-support | you | probably property | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
bāozi, a filled bun, said high
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | bāozi | bāozi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 said | nsubj |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 bun | punct |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 bun | det |
| 4 | filled | fill | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 bun | amod |
| 5 | bun | bun | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 bāozi | appos |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 bāozi | punct |
| 7 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | high | high | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 said | xcomp |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | fill | participle | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | ||||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | past | bāozi | high property | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
Option 2
bàozi, said falling
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | bàozi | bàozi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 said | nsubj |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 bàozi | punct |
| 3 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | falling | fall | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 3 said | xcomp |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | bàozi | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | fall | gerund | bàozi not said here | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
Option 3
tāng, a soup
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tāng | tāng | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 soup | punct |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 soup | det |
| 4 | soup | soup | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 tāng | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4
mántou, a plain bun
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mántou | mántou | PROPN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 bun | punct |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 bun | det |
| 4 | plain | plain | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 bun | amod |
| 5 | bun | bun | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 mántou | appos |
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/t8/