Exam question 4 · Weather and what Granny says to wear

Ascertain the reason for which an umbrella may be considered an inauspicious gift in some Chinese households.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, consider · To what, where: reason, umbrella, Chinese households

This is exam question 4 of lesson 20 «Weather and what Granny says to wear» 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	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 considered	obl
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 umbrella	det
7	umbrella	umbrella	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 considered	nsubj:pass
8	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 considered	aux
9	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	10 considered	aux:pass
10	considered	consider	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
11	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 gift	det
12	inauspicious	inauspicious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 gift	amod
13	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 considered	xcomp
14	in	in	ADP	_	17 households	case
15	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	17 households	det
16	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 households	amod
17	households	household	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 considered	obl
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 reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	consider	may · passive		a umbrella		some Chinese households		for the reason	vn consider-29.9-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute

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

Umbrellas are deemed excessively costly as gifts

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Umbrellas	umbrella	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 deemed	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 deemed	aux:pass
3	deemed	deem	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	excessively	excessively	ADV	_	5 costly	advmod
5	costly	costly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 deemed	xcomp
6	as	as	ADP	_	7 gifts	case
7	gifts	gift	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 costly	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deem	present · passive		Umbrellas				costly property	vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Attribute

Option 2

Umbrellas are associated with funerals only

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Umbrellas	umbrella	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 associated	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 associated	aux:pass
3	associated	associate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	with	with	ADP	_	5 funerals	case
5	funerals	funeral	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 associated	obl
6	only	only	ADV	_	5 funerals	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	associate	present · passive		Umbrellas				with funerals	vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: subject=Patient with funeral=Co-Patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Its name sǎn resembles sàn, signifying separation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 sǎn	nmod:poss
2	name	name	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 sǎn	compound
3	sǎn	sǎn	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 resembles	nsubj
4	resembles	resemble	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	sàn	sàn	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 resembles	obj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 signifying	punct
7	signifying	signify	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 resembles	advcl
8	separation	separation	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 signifying	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	resemble	present	Its name sǎn	sàn					tree rules
2	signify	gerund	Its name sǎn not said here	separation					vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot separation=Theme

Option 4

Umbrellas are prohibited indoors by ancient law

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Umbrellas	umbrella	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 prohibited	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 prohibited	aux:pass
3	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	indoors	indoors	ADV	_	3 prohibited	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 law	case
6	ancient	ancient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 law	amod
7	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 prohibited	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	present · passive	ancient law	Umbrellas				indoors property	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme

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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