---
title: You say «wǒ bù zhīdào» to the teacher with a shrug and nothing else.… — School words · tree and pragmatics
description: You say «wǒ bù zhīdào» to the teacher with a shrug and nothing else. How can you make it softer? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 15 «School words» 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 choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · School words

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You say «wǒ bù zhīdào» to the teacher with a shrug and nothing else. How can you make it softer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** You · **What happens:** say, make · **To what, where:** wǒ, teacher · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 15 «School words» 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/chinese-street/15-school-words/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* You say «wǒ bù zhīdào» to the teacher with a shrug and nothing else.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:15-school-words:t8:1
# text = You say «wǒ bù zhīdào» to the teacher with a shrug and nothing else.
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	wǒ	wǒ	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	2	obj	_	_
5	bù	bù	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	4	flat:foreign	_	_
6	zhīdào	zhīdào	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	4	flat:foreign	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	shrug	shrug	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	13	conj	_	_
16	else	else	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | You | wǒ | the teacher |  |  | with a shrug | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent wǒ=Topic to teacher=Recipient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* How can you make it softer?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:15-school-words:t8:2
# text = How can you make it softer?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	softer	soft	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | can | you | wǒ |  |  |  | soft *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Product |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Shout it louder

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:15-school-words:t8:o1:1
# text = Shout it louder
1	Shout	shout	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	louder	loud	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	1	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shout** *speech: express* | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Say xià kè after it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:15-school-words:t8:o2:1
# text = Say xià kè after it
1	Say	say	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	xià	xià	X	FW	_	1	obj	_	_
3	kè	kè	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	2	flat	_	_
4	after	after	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* | xià |  |  | after it |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent xià=Topic |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Add duìbuqǐ

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:15-school-words:t8:o3:1
# text = Add duìbuqǐ
1	Add	add	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	duìbuqǐ	duìbuqǐ	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **add** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* | duìbuqǐ |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent duìbuqǐ=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Say it twice fast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:15-school-words:t8:o4:1
# text = Say it twice fast
1	Say	say	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	4	advmod	_	_
4	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	1	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent it=Topic |

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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.

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