Exam question 4 · Yes and no — there is no single word

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the reply bú yào addressed to an elder offering food?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: elder · What happens: follow, characteris, address, offer · To what, where: reply, yào, food

This is exam question 4 of lesson 4 «Yes and no — there is no single word» 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 reply	det
10	reply	reply	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	bú	bú	ADP	_	12 yào	case
12	yào	yào	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 reply	nmod
13	addressed	address	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 yào	acl
14	to	to	ADP	_	16 elder	case
15	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 elder	det
16	elder	elder	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 addressed	obl
17	offering	offer	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	16 elder	acl
18	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 offering	obj
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the reply	of the following statements; bú yào; accurately property	tree rules
3	address	participle		yào not said here	to a elder	vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	offer	gerund	a elder not said here	food		vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent food=Theme

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

It constitutes an acceptance of the offer

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 constitutes	nsubj
2	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 acceptance	det
4	acceptance	acceptance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitutes	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 offer	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 offer	det
7	offer	offer	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 acceptance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	present	It	a acceptance of the offer					vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme acceptance=Pivot
2	accept			the offer					nom acceptance «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

It expresses gratitude without refusal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 expresses	nsubj
2	expresses	express	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	gratitude	gratitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 expresses	obj
4	without	without	ADP	_	5 refusal	case
5	refusal	refusal	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 expresses	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	express	present	It	gratitude				without refusal	vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme gratitude=Reflexive

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

It is blunt, and bú yòng le, xièxie is considered more courteous

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 blunt	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 blunt	cop
3	blunt	blunt	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 considered	punct
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 considered	cc
6	bú	bú	SCONJ	_	7 yòng	mark
7	yòng	yòng	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 considered	advcl
8	le	le	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 yòng	obj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 yòng	punct
10	xièxie	xièxie	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 considered	nsubj:pass
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 considered	aux:pass
12	considered	consider	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 blunt	conj
13	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	14 courteous	advmod
14	courteous	courteous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 considered	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	It		blunt property	tree rules
2	yòng	gerund		le		tree rules
3	consider	present · passive		xièxie	courteous property	vn consider-29.9-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute

Option 4

It is the most deferential refusal available

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 refusal	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 refusal	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 refusal	det
4	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	5 deferential	advmod
5	deferential	deferential	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 refusal	amod
6	refusal	refusal	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	available	available	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 refusal	amod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	the deferential refusal					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.

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