Exam question 4 · Days of the week, the clock, birthdays

Ascertain the reason for which certain grandparents' birthdays fall on differing Western dates from year to year.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, birthdays · What happens: ascertain, fall, differ · To what, where: reason, Western dates

This is exam question 4 of lesson 22 «Days of the week, the clock, birthdays» 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 fall	obl
6	certain	certain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 grandparents	amod
7	grandparents	grandparent	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 birthdays	nmod:poss
8	'	's	PART	_	7 grandparents	case
9	birthdays	birthday	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 fall	nsubj
10	fall	fall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl
11	on	on	SCONJ	_	12 differing	mark
12	differing	differ	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 fall	advcl
13	Western	western	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 dates	amod
14	dates	date	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 differing	obj
15	from	from	ADP	_	16 year	case
16	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 differing	obl
17	to	to	ADP	_	18 year	case
18	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 differing	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	fall	present	certain grandparents's birthdays			for the reason	vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for which=Theme
3	differ	gerund	certain grandparents's birthdays not said here	Western dates	year		tree rules

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 · ✓ the right answer

They are reckoned by the lunar calendar

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 reckoned	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reckoned	aux:pass
3	reckoned	reckon	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	7 calendar	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 calendar	det
6	lunar	lunar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 calendar	amod
7	calendar	calendar	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reckoned	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reckon	present · passive	the lunar calendar	They					vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent subject=Attribute

Option 2

They are moved to the nearest weekend by law

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 moved	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 moved	aux:pass
3	moved	move	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	ADP	_	7 weekend	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 weekend	det
6	nearest	near	ADJ	Degree=Sup	7 weekend	amod
7	weekend	weekend	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 moved	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 law	case
9	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 moved	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	move	present · passive	law	They			weekend		vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 3

They are chosen afresh annually by lot

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 chosen	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 chosen	aux:pass
3	chosen	choose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	afresh	afresh	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 chosen	xcomp
5	annually	annually	ADV	_	3 chosen	advmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 lot	case
7	lot	lot	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 chosen	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	choose	present · passive	lot	They				afresh, annually property	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 4

The grandparents misremember them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 grandparents	det
2	grandparents	grandparent	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 misremember	nsubj
3	misremember	misremember	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 misremember	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	misremember	present	the grandparents	them = they					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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/22-days-the-clock-and-birthdays/e4/