Days of the week, the clock, birthdays
Tests: 5 of 11 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 5 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 22 of the chinese street course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · ★ · right ✓
my mate reckons Sunday is xīngqīqī, week-seven, cos it's the 7th day. right?
- 1. No, it's xīngqītiān or xīngqīrì — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. No, Sunday is xīngqīyī — no support
- 3. Yes, xīngqīqī is Sunday, easy — no support
- 4. Yes, but only in China, not here — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★ · wrong ✗
Lín's mum stands at the door at 9 pm, arms crossed: "jǐ diǎn le?". Does she want the time?
- 1. Yes, she's lost track of time — ← Mova's choice · score 4
- 2. No, she means "goodnight, love" — score 3
- 3. No, she means "you're late!" — ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 4. Yes, her watch has stopped working — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 9, line 5: «māma («MAH-ma», the first high, the second light) is mum; with a falling first tone it sounds like mà, to scold.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «māma» (+2); the same thing acted on «mum» (+2). The right option, 3, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★ · right ✓
Lín's granny's birthday was 3 March last year and 22 March this year. Is someone confused?
- 1. Yes, she was born twice — no support
- 2. No, she just changes it for fun — no support
- 3. Yes, Granny forgot her own birthday — no support
- 4. No, she counts by the lunar calendar — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 22, line 4: «Dates go big to small: month, then day, so 8 March is "sān yuè bā hào"; and some grandparents also count birthdays by the moon calendar, so their birthday move…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «count» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★ · right ✓
Lín says "shí fènzhōng" with a falling fèn. What did he mix up?
- 1. fèn means a portion; minute is fēn, high — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 2. fèn means a second, not a minute — score 4
- 3. Nothing, both tones are fine for minutes — no support
- 4. fèn means an hour — score 4
Why: It took the question to ask a circumstance (with what, when, how). It chose option 1 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 22, line 12: «"shí fēnzhōng" means ten minutes; fēn (minute) is high and level, while fèn (falling) means a portion.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «mean» (+2); the same doer «fèn» (+2); the same thing acted on «portion» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗
Which is "late for school" and which is "late in the day"?
- 1. Both mean late for school — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. wǎn is late for school; chídào is late in the day — no support
- 3. chídào is late for school; wǎn is late in the day — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Both mean late in the day — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗
Wednesday is week-three. Using the pattern, what is Thursday?
- 1. xīngqīsān — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. xīngqīsì — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. xīngqīliù — no support
- 4. xīngqīwǔ — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗
A British card says 4/5. Lín's dad reads it the Chinese way, month first. Which date is "sì yuè wǔ hào"?
- 1. 5 May — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. 4 May — no support
- 3. 4 April — no support
- 4. 5 April — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★ · right ✓
Lín's mum: "fàngjià le, but hánjià is short". Which holiday is she talking about?
- 1. The winter holiday — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 2. The summer holiday — score 6
- 3. A birthday — no support
- 4. The weekend — no support
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 6, tied with another option at 6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 22, line 17: «"fàngjià" means school holidays; "fàngjià le!" means "holidays have started!", shǔjià is the summer holiday and hánjià the winter holiday.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «holidays» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★ · right ✓
What would happen if you told Lín "xīngqīliù jiàn" on a Thursday?
- 1. He'd expect you on Sunday — score 3
- 2. He'd expect you on Monday — score 3
- 3. He'd expect to see you on Saturday — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 4. He'd expect you tomorrow, Friday — score 3
Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 3 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 19, line 1: «Lín asks "nǐ shǔ shénme?" — "nee SHOO SHUN-muh", literally "what do you belong to?" — and he means your zodiac animal, the animal of the Chinese year you were…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «ask» (+2); the same doer «lín» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗
ugh bro it's three thirty, where are u, ur late. In Mandarin, which time is that?
- 1. sān diǎn le — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. sān diǎn bàn — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. bàn diǎn sān — no support
- 4. sān shí diǎn — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★ · wrong ✗
Which two words make "when?"?
- 1. shí fēnzhōng — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. zhōumò — no support
- 3. jǐ diǎn — no support
- 4. shénme shíhou — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗
Identify the Mandarin designation for the day of the week which, uniquely, bears no ordinal numeral.
- 1. zhōumò — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. xīngqīyī — no support
- 3. xīngqītiān — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. xīngqīliù — no support
Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
It is given that a pupil's birthday falls upon the eighth day of March. Select the rendering consistent with the established ordering of Chinese dates.
- 1. bā hào sān yuè — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. sān hào bā yuè — no support
- 3. sān yuè bā hào — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. bā yuè sān hào — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the phrase "jǐ diǎn le?" when uttered by a parent awaiting a tardy child at the threshold?
- 1. It functions as a reproach for lateness, not a genuine enquiry — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. It is an invitation to dinner — no support
- 3. It is a sincere request for the hour, the parent's watch having stopped — no support
- 4. It is a valediction for the night — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓
Ascertain the reason for which certain grandparents' birthdays fall on differing Western dates from year to year.
- 1. They are reckoned by the lunar calendar — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. They are moved to the nearest weekend by law — no support
- 3. They are chosen afresh annually by lot — no support
- 4. The grandparents misremember them — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/chinese-street/22-days-the-clock-and-birthdays/