Olympiad: measure words and characters as pictures ★★★

Tests: 2 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★★★ · Understood: 6 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 32 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 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Josh from Bristol goes «gurt easy, ge works for everything, so yí ge shū». What would a Chinese friend usually say?

1. yì zhāng shū — no support
2. yì tiáo shū — ← Mova's choice · score 6
3. yì běn shū — ✓ the right answer · score 6
4. yí ge shū, he's spot on — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 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 9, line 4: «When Ming says «lái wǒ jiā wánr ba» (come and play at my house), jiā is both home and family, and the invitation is real.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «ming» (+5); the same action «say» (+1). The right option, 3, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Sienna says a river, a road and a pair of trousers have nothing in common. Why do they all take tiáo?

1. They're all outdoors — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. They all move along — no support
3. They're all long and thin — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. They're all blue — 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 3 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Liam from Liverpool says «boss, I'll go with yì zhāng chuáng for a bed». Is he right?

1. No: beds take tiáo, they're long — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Yes: a bed has a big flat top — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. No: beds take běn, like books — no support
4. No: beds take bēi, like cups — 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 4 · ★★★ · right ✓

★★★ A Chinese dragon is long and twisty like a snake. Which measure word does it share with a fish?

1. běn, like a book — no support
2. zhāng, like a table — no support
3. zhī, like a cat — no support
4. tiáo — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 32, line 8: «tiáo is for long, thin, bendy things: yì tiáo yú (a fish), yì tiáo lù (a road), yì tiáo hé (a river), yì tiáo kùzi (a pair of trousers), and also snakes (shé)…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «tiáo» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★★ · right ✓

★★★ Abby from Ohio, «lowkey confused», reads 明 as «night» because the moon is in it. What does it really mean?

1. Bright: the sun and moon together — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 10
2. Sunday: the sun comes first — score 6
3. Month: it's really just the moon — no support
4. Night: the moon wins over the sun — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 10, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 32, line 15: «Characters built from pictures: 林 lín (two trees) is a wood, 森 sēn (three trees) is in sēnlín, a forest, 明 míng (sun and moon) means bright, and 休 xiū (person…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same action «mean» (+2); the same doer «明 míng» (+2); the same property (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Noah's nan moans she's got «a thousand mouths to feed». Then Ming's mum says «wǒ jiā yǒu liù kǒu rén». Which number is real?

1. A thousand, Nan said so — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Sixty, with all the cousins — no support
3. Six, in Ming's family — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Sixteen, counting the guests — 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 ✗

★★★ Freddie writes 木木 for «two trees» and asks if that's a real character. Which is the closest one?

1. 森, three trees — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 林, a small wood — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. 人, a person — no support
4. 山, a mountain — 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 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Odd one out: 人, 山, 火, 明. Which is NOT a single picture?

1. 火, a burning fire — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 明, sun plus moon — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. 人, a walking person — no support
4. 山, a mountain peak — 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 9 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Aoife from Galway says «sure, I'll guess every character from its picture, grand». What's the catch?

1. The pictures only work in red ink — no support
2. Only Cantonese characters are pictures — ← Mova's choice · score 6
3. Most mix a meaning part with a sound part — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Characters are just random scribbles — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 32, line 5: «But careful, detectives: most characters are not pictures at all, they join a part for the meaning with a part that hints at the sound, so a picture guess is a…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same thing acted on «pictures» (+3); the same doer «most characters» (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). Against it: one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-3). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ At the bubble tea shop Ming orders «sān bēi nǎichá, liǎng bēi shuǐ». How many drinks is that?

1. Three — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Two — no support
3. Six — no support
4. Five — ✓ 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 11 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Aisha's mate says yì zhī gǒu is wrong and only yì tiáo gǒu works. Which is true?

1. Both are used for a dog — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Neither: dogs take běn — ← Mova's choice · score 4
3. Only zhī is right for dogs — no support
4. Only tiáo is right for dogs — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 32, line 11: «zhī is for many animals, such as yì zhī māo (a cat), yì zhī niǎo (a bird) and yì zhī tùzi (a rabbit); a dog can take zhī or tiáo.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «take» (+3); the same doer «dog» (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the measure word appropriate to the noun shū in the expression «three books».

1. zhāng — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. běn — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. tiáo — no support
4. zhī — 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 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Ascertain the meaning of the character 林, composed of two instances of 木.

1. A tree — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. A mountain — no support
3. A wood — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. A river — 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 ✓

Determine the number of persons denoted by the utterance «wǒ jiā yǒu sān kǒu rén».

1. Three — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Thirty — no support
3. Six — no support
4. One — 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 · wrong ✗

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

1. They are random strokes devised by one emperor — no support
2. They combine a component of meaning with a component of sound — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Each is a picture of the very thing it names — ← Mova's choice · score 5
4. They are letters of an alphabet, like English — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 29, line 3: «Some things sound odd to an English ear. «nǐ shòu le» (you've got thin!) is worry, and a full plate will follow. «nǐ pàng le» (you've put on weight!) from a Ch…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «things» (+2). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · 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/32-olympiad-measure-words-and-picture-characters/