Exam question 3 · China: Mei's exaggerations and everyday China

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the distinction between Mandarin and English with regard to the number of speakers?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: distinction

This is exam question 3 of lesson 60 «China: Mei's exaggerations and everyday China» of the history 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 distinction	det
10	distinction	distinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	between	between	ADP	_	12 Mandarin	case
12	Mandarin	Mandarin	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 distinction	nmod
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 English	cc
14	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 Mandarin	conj
15	with	with	ADP	_	16 regard	case
16	regard	regard	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
17	to	to	ADP	_	19 number	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 number	det
19	number	number	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 regard	nmod
20	of	of	ADP	_	21 speakers	case
21	speakers	speaker	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 number	nmod
22	?	?	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 distinction				of the following statements; between Mandarin and English; with regard to the number of speakers; 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

Neither language is spoken by more than a million persons

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Neither	neither	DET	PronType=Neg	2 language	det
2	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 spoken	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 spoken	aux:pass
4	spoken	speak	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	10 persons	case
6	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp ExtPos=ADV	9 million	advmod
7	than	than	ADP	_	6 more	fixed
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 million	det
9	million	million	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 persons	nummod
10	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 spoken	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	speak speech: other	present · passive	million persons	neither language					tree rules

Option 2

Both languages possess exactly equal numbers of speakers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	2 languages	det
2	languages	language	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 possess	nsubj
3	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	exactly	exactly	ADV	_	5 equal	advmod
5	equal	equal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 numbers	amod
6	numbers	number	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 possess	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 speakers	case
8	speakers	speaker	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 numbers	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	both languages	equal numbers of speakers					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot number=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

English has the most native speakers; Mandarin the most speakers in total

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 has	nsubj
2	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 speakers	det
4	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	5 native	advmod
5	native	native	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 speakers	amod
6	speakers	speaker	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 has	obj
7	;	;	PUNCT	_	8 Mandarin	punct
8	Mandarin	Mandarin	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 has	conj
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 speakers	det
10	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	11 speakers	amod
11	speakers	speaker	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 Mandarin	nmod
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 total	case
13	total	total	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 speakers	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	present	English	the native speakers					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent speaker=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Mandarin has the most native speakers; English the most speakers in total

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mandarin	Mandarin	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 has	nsubj
2	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 speakers	det
4	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	5 native	advmod
5	native	native	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 speakers	amod
6	speakers	speaker	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 has	obj
7	;	;	PUNCT	_	11 speakers	punct
8	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 speakers	amod
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 speakers	det
10	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	11 speakers	amod
11	speakers	speaker	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 has	obj
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 total	case
13	total	total	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 speakers	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	present	Mandarin	the native speakers					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/history/60-china-mei-s-exaggerations-and-everyday-china/e3/