Test 8 · ★ · Yes and no — there is no single word

In a cartoon Granny asks «yào bu yào?» and the boy answers «duì!». Why is it odd?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: Granny, boy, duì · What happens: ask, answer, be · To what, where: yào, cartoon, duì

This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 4 «Yes and no — there is no single word» of the Chinese street course of Mova's primary school. 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

Sentence 1: In a cartoon Granny asks «yào bu yào?» and the boy answers «duì!».

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	In	in	ADP	_	3 cartoon	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 cartoon	det
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 asks	obl
4	Granny	Granny	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 asks	nsubj
5	asks	ask	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	«	«	PUNCT	_	7 yào	punct
7	yào	yào	X	Foreign=Yes	5 asks	obj
8	bu	bu	X	Foreign=Yes	7 yào	flat:foreign
9	yào	yào	X	Foreign=Yes	7 yào	flat:foreign
10	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 asks	punct
11	»	»	PUNCT	_	5 asks	punct
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 answers	cc
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 boy	det
14	boy	boy	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 answers	nsubj
15	answers	answer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 asks	conj
16	«	«	PUNCT	_	17 duì	punct
17	duì	duì	X	Foreign=Yes	15 answers	obj
18	!	!	PUNCT	_	17 duì	punct
19	»	»	PUNCT	_	15 answers	punct
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 asks	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	present	Granny	yào		a cartoon			vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent yào=Recipient
2	answer speech: assert	present	the boy	duì					vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent duì=Eventuality

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.

Sentence 2: Why is it odd?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	4 odd	advmod
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 odd	cop
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 odd	nsubj
4	odd	odd	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 odd	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	duì					odd property	tree rules

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

duì means «correct», but she asked if he wants it: yào

The tree, 11 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	duì	duì	X	Foreign=Yes	2 means	nsubj
2	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	«	«	PUNCT	_	4 correct	punct
4	correct	correct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 means	obj
5	»	»	PUNCT	_	4 correct	punct
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 asked	punct
7	but	but	CCONJ	_	9 asked	cc
8	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 asked	nsubj
9	asked	ask	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 means	conj
10	if	if	SCONJ	_	12 wants	mark
11	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 wants	nsubj
12	wants	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 asked	ccomp
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 wants	obj
14	:	:	PUNCT	_	15 yào	punct
15	yào	yào	NOUN	Foreign=Yes	2 means	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present	duì	correct	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent correct=Topic
2	ask speech: ask	past	she		vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	want a condition, not said to happen	present	he	it	vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot it=Theme

Option 2

duì is only said at night

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	duì	duì	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 said	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 said	aux:pass
3	only	only	ADV	_	4 said	advmod
4	said	say	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 night	case
6	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 said	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present · passive		duì			night		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic

Option 3

duì means no thanks

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	duì	duì	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 means	nsubj
2	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 thanks	det
4	thanks	thanks	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 means	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	duì	no thanks					vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thanks=Topic

Option 4

duì is a rude word

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	duì	duì	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 word	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 word	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 word	det
4	rude	rude	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 word	amod
5	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	duì	a rude word					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/4-yes-and-no/t8/