---
title: Ascertain the reason for which a whole fish is customarily served at… — Animals and "what animal are you?" · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the reason for which a whole fish is customarily served at the New Year meal. Exam question 4 of lesson 19 «Animals and "what animal are you?"» 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 w
---

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# Exam question 4 · Animals and "what animal are you?"

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the reason for which a whole fish is customarily served at the New Year meal.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, serve · **To what, where:** reason, whole fish, Year meal

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 19 «Animals and "what animal are you?"» 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/19-animals-and-your-zodiac-animal/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:19-animals-and-your-zodiac-animal:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the reason for which a whole fish is customarily served at the New Year meal.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obl	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
10	customarily	customarily	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	served	serve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl:relcl	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
14	New	New	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	Year	Year	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	meal	meal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	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 reason |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **serve** | present · passive |  | a whole fish |  | the Year meal |  | for the reason; customarily *property* | vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Theme for which=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The word yú is homophonous with "surplus", betokening plenty each year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:19-animals-and-your-zodiac-animal:e4:o1:1
# text = The word yú is homophonous with "surplus", betokening plenty each year
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	yú	yú	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	homophonous	homophonous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	surplus	surplus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	betokening	betoken	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
12	plenty	plenty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
13	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	14	det	_	_
14	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the word yú |  |  |  |  | with surplus; homophonous *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **betoken** | gerund | the word yú *not said here* | plenty |  |  | year |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fish is prescribed by law at New Year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:19-animals-and-your-zodiac-animal:e4:o2:1
# text = Fish is prescribed by law at New Year
1	Fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	prescribed	prescribe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	New	New	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	Year	Year	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prescribe** | present · passive | law | Fish |  |  | at New Year |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fish is the sole meat available in winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:19-animals-and-your-zodiac-animal:e4:o3:1
# text = Fish is the sole meat available in winter
1	Fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	sole	sole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	available	available	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Fish | the sole meat |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fish represents the Rat of the zodiac

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:19-animals-and-your-zodiac-animal:e4:o4:1
# text = The fish represents the Rat of the zodiac
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	represents	represent	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Rat	Rat	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	zodiac	zodiac	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **represent** | present | the fish | the Rat of the zodiac |  |  |  |  | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot rat=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**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: [Animals and "what animal are you?", exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/19-animals-and-your-zodiac-animal/e3/)
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- ↑ back to [Animals and "what animal are you?"](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/19-animals-and-your-zodiac-animal/)