Exam question 4 · Olympiad: measure words and characters as pictures ★★★

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the composition of the majority of Chinese characters?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: composition

This is exam question 4 of lesson 32 «Olympiad: measure words and characters as pictures ★★★» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 composition	det
10	composition	composition	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 majority	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 majority	det
13	majority	majority	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 composition	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 characters	case
15	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 characters	amod
16	characters	character	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 majority	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the composition of the majority of Chinese characters				of the following statements; accurately property	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

They are random strokes devised by one emperor

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	4 strokes	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 strokes	cop
3	random	random	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 strokes	amod
4	strokes	stroke	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	devised	devise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 strokes	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 emperor	case
7	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 emperor	nummod
8	emperor	emperor	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 devised	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	random strokes					tree rules
2	devise	participle		random strokes not said here					vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

They combine a component of meaning with a component of sound

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	2 combine	nsubj
2	combine	combine	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 component	det
4	component	component	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 combine	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 meaning	case
6	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 component	nmod
7	with	with	ADP	_	9 component	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 component	det
9	component	component	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 combine	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 sound	case
11	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 component	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	combine	present	They	a component of meaning	with a component of sound	vn mix-22.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent component=Patient with component=Co-Patient
2	compose			meaning		nom component «cognition transitive»: of=patient
3	compose			sound		nom component «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Each is a picture of the very thing it names

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	4 picture	det
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 picture	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 picture	det
4	picture	picture	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 thing	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 thing	det
7	very	very	ADV	_	8 thing	advmod
8	thing	thing	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 picture	nmod
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 names	nsubj
10	names	name	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 thing	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present		each picture				of the thing	tree rules
2	name	present	thing	the thing not said here					vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Theme

Option 4

They are letters of an alphabet, like English

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 letters	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 letters	cop
3	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 alphabet	case
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 alphabet	det
6	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 letters	nmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 English	punct
8	like	like	ADP	_	9 English	case
9	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 letters	appos

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	letters				of a alphabet	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/32-olympiad-measure-words-and-picture-characters/e4/