Exam question 4 · Words that hurt — what they mean, never to be said

Ascertain the appropriate response of a bystander to the mimicry of purported "Chinese" speech or the pulling of one's eyes directed at a classmate.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, purport, direct, pull · To what, where: appropriate response, eyes

This is exam question 4 of lesson 24 «Words that hurt — what they mean, never to be said» 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	4 response	det
3	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 response	amod
4	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 bystander	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 bystander	det
7	bystander	bystander	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 response	nmod
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 mimicry	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 mimicry	det
10	mimicry	mimicry	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 response	nmod
11	of	of	ADP	_	16 speech	case
12	purported	purport	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 speech	amod
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 Chinese	punct
14	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 speech	amod
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 Chinese	punct
16	speech	speech	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 mimicry	nmod
17	or	or	CCONJ	_	19 pulling	cc
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 pulling	det
19	pulling	pulling	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 speech	conj
20	of	of	ADP	_	23 eyes	case
21	one	one	PRON	Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	23 eyes	nmod:poss
22	's	's	PART	_	21 one	case
23	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 pulling	nmod
24	directed	direct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	23 eyes	acl
25	at	at	ADP	_	27 classmate	case
26	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	27 classmate	det
27	classmate	classmate	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 directed	obl:agent
28	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the appropriate response of a bystander	to the mimicry of purported Chinese speech or the pulling of one's eyes	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Topic
2	purport	participle				tree rules
3	direct	participle		one's eyes not said here		vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	pull			one's eyes		nom pulling «act transitive»: of=patient

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

To support the classmate and inform a teacher

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 support	mark
2	support	support	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 classmate	det
4	classmate	classmate	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 support	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 inform	cc
6	inform	inform	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	2 support	conj
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 teacher	det
8	teacher	teacher	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 inform	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	support	to-infinitive		the classmate					vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer classmate=Stimulus
2	inform speech: other	infinitive			a teacher				vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent teacher=Recipient

Option 2

To disregard the matter entirely

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 disregard	mark
2	disregard	disregard	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 matter	det
4	matter	matter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 disregard	obj
5	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	2 disregard	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disregard	to-infinitive		the matter				entirely property	vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent matter=Theme

Option 3

To retaliate with insults towards the perpetrator's family

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 retaliate	mark
2	retaliate	retaliate	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	with	with	ADP	_	4 insults	case
4	insults	insult	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 retaliate	obl
5	towards	towards	ADP	_	9 family	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 perpetrator	det
7	perpetrator	perpetrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 family	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 perpetrator	case
9	family	family	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 retaliate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retaliate	to-infinitive						with insults; towards the perpetrator's family	vn respond-113 «NP V PP.predicate»: agent=Agent with insult=Eventuality

Option 4

To join in the merriment

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 join	mark
2	join	join	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 merriment	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 merriment	det
5	merriment	merriment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 join	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	join	to-infinitive						in the merriment	vn cooperate-73.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in merriment=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/24-words-that-hurt/e4/