---
title: Ascertain the principal reason for which chopsticks should not be pl… — Dinner at the friend's house · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal reason for which chopsticks should not be placed upright in a bowl of rice. Exam question 2 of lesson 11 «Dinner at the friend's house» of the Chinese street course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's ch
---

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# Exam question 2 · Dinner at the friend's house

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal reason for which chopsticks should not be placed upright in a bowl of rice.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, not place · **To what, where:** principal reason, chopsticks, bowl

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 11 «Dinner at the friend's house» 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/chinese-street/11-dinner-at-the-friends-house/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:11-dinner-at-the-friends-house:e2:1
# text = Ascertain the principal reason for which chopsticks should not be placed upright in a bowl of rice.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obl	_	_
7	chopsticks	chopstick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	_
12	upright	upright	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	bowl	bowl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	rice	rice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **place** | should · passive |  | chopsticks |  | a bowl of rice |  | for the principal reason; upright *property* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in bowl=Destination |

<!-- .note -->
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 {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It signifies that the meal is unsatisfactory to the guest

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:11-dinner-at-the-friends-house:e2:o1:1
# text = It signifies that the meal is unsatisfactory to the guest
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	signifies	signify	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	meal	meal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	unsatisfactory	unsatisfactory	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	ccomp	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	guest	guest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **signify** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 2 | **is** | present | the meal |  |  |  |  | to the guest; unsatisfactory *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It obstructs other diners

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:11-dinner-at-the-friends-house:e2:o2:1
# text = It obstructs other diners
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	obstructs	obstruct	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	diners	diner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **obstruct** | present | It | other diners |  |  |  |  | vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer diner=Eventuality |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The arrangement resembles incense offered at funerals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:11-dinner-at-the-friends-house:e2:o3:1
# text = The arrangement resembles incense offered at funerals
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	arrangement	arrangement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	resembles	resemble	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	incense	incense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	offered	offer	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	funerals	funeral	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **resemble** | present | the arrangement | incense |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **offer** | participle |  | incense *not said here* |  | funerals |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It damages the chopsticks irreparably

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:11-dinner-at-the-friends-house:e2:o4:1
# text = It damages the chopsticks irreparably
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	damages	damage	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	chopsticks	chopstick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	irreparably	irreparably	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **damage** | present | It | the chopsticks |  |  |  | irreparably *property* | vn destroy-44 «NP.instrument V NP»: agent=Instrument chopstick=Patient |

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**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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Dinner at the friend's house, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/11-dinner-at-the-friends-house/e1/)
- next →: [Dinner at the friend's house, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/11-dinner-at-the-friends-house/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Dinner at the friend's house](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/11-dinner-at-the-friends-house/)