---
title: «ming says ask for táng at the shop, it means soup innit» What happe… — The four tones: same sound, different… · tree and pragmatics
description: «ming says ask for táng at the shop, it means soup innit» What happens if you do? Test 1 · ★★ of lesson 2 «The four tones: same sound, different meaning» 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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# Test 1 · ★★ · The four tones: same sound, different meaning

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«ming says ask for táng at the shop, it means soup innit» What happens if you do?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** ming, it, you · **What happens:** say, ask, mean, happen, do · **To what, where:** shop, soup innit · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★★ of lesson 2 «The four tones: same sound, different meaning» 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/2-the-four-tones/#t1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t1:1
# text = «ming says ask for táng at the shop, it means soup innit» What happens if you do?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	ming	ming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	ask	ask	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	táng	táng	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	shop	shop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
13	soup	soup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	innit	innit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
16	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	17	nsubj	_	_
17	happens	happen	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	ccomp	_	_
18	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | ming |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  | the shop |  | for táng | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **mean** *in a quote* | present | it | soup innit |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **happen** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **do** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: 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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You get a horse

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t1:o1:1
# text = You get a horse
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	get	get	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | present | You | a horse |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer horse=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You get soup, he is right

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t1:o2:1
# text = You get soup, he is right
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	get	get	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	soup	soup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | present | You | soup |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer soup=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | present | he |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You get sweets; soup is tāng

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t1:o3:1
# text = You get sweets; soup is tāng
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	get	get	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	sweets	sweet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
5	soup	soup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	tāng	tāng	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | present | You | sweets |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer sweet=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is a** | present |  | soup tāng |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You get told off for being rude

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t1:o4:1
# text = You get told off for being rude
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	get	get	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	off	off	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	cop	_	_
7	rude	rude	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell off** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | You |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | rude *property* | tree rules |

<!-- 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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