---
title: Lín swears lǎohǔ means "old tiger" because lǎo means old. Is that ri… — Animals and "what animal are you?" · tree and pragmatics
description: Lín swears lǎohǔ means "old tiger" because lǎo means old. Is that right? Test 10 · ★★ 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 was right.
---

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# Test 10 · ★★ · Animals and "what animal are you?"

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lín swears lǎohǔ means "old tiger" because lǎo means old. Is that right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Lín, lǎohǔ, lǎo, that · **What happens:** swear, mean, be · **To what, where:** old tiger

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★★ of lesson 19 «Animals and "what animal are you?"» 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/19-animals-and-your-zodiac-animal/#t10).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Lín swears lǎohǔ means "old tiger" because lǎo means old.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:19-animals-and-your-zodiac-animal:t10:1
# text = Lín swears lǎohǔ means "old tiger" because lǎo means old.
1	Lín	Lín	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	swears	swear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	lǎohǔ	lǎohǔ	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	tiger	tiger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
9	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	lǎo	lǎo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swear** | present | Lín |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **mean** | present | lǎohǔ | old tiger |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tiger=Topic |
| 3 | **mean** | present | lǎo |  |  |  |  | old *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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:* Is that right?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:19-animals-and-your-zodiac-animal:t10:2
# text = Is that right?
1	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
2	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nsubj	_	_
3	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | that |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, young tigers are xiǎohǔ only

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:19-animals-and-your-zodiac-animal:t10:o1:1
# text = Yes, young tigers are xiǎohǔ only
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	tigers	tiger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	xiǎohǔ	xiǎohǔ	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, lǎohǔ is just "tiger"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:19-animals-and-your-zodiac-animal:t10:o2:1
# text = No, lǎohǔ is just "tiger"
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	lǎohǔ	lǎohǔ	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	just	just	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	tiger	tiger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | lǎohǔ | tiger |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, it means "old mouse"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:19-animals-and-your-zodiac-animal:t10:o3:1
# text = No, it means "old mouse"
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | it | old mouse |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mouse=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, it's an old tiger only

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:19-animals-and-your-zodiac-animal:t10:o4:1
# text = Yes, it's an old tiger only
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	tiger	tiger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
```

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

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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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