---
title: Your friends make you say māma mà mǎ ma? fast and laugh. What is goi… — The four tones: same sound, different… · tree and pragmatics
description: Your friends make you say māma mà mǎ ma? fast and laugh. What is going on? Test 11 · ★★ 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 was rig
---

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# Test 11 · ★★ · The four tones: same sound, different meaning

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Your friends make you say māma mà mǎ ma? fast and laugh. What is going on?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** friends, you · **What happens:** make, say, laugh, go on · **To what, where:** you, māma · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★ 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/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Your friends make you say māma mà mǎ ma? fast and laugh.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t11:1
# text = Your friends make you say māma mà mǎ ma? fast and laugh.
1	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	māma	māma	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	5	obj	_	_
7	mà	mà	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	9	dep	_	_
8	mǎ	mǎ	X	FW	_	9	compound	_	_
9	ma	ma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
11	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	laugh	laugh	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Your friends | you |  |  |  | fast *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | infinitive | you *not said here* | māma |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent māma=Topic |
| 3 | **laugh** | present | Your friends *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is going on?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t11:2
# text = What is going on?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go on** | present · progressive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A friendly tone game, not mockery

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t11:o1:1
# text = A friendly tone game, not mockery
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	friendly	friendly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	tone	tone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	game	game	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	mockery	mockery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are being cruel and you should leave

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t11:o2:1
# text = They are being cruel and you should leave
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	cop	_	_
4	cruel	cruel	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | They |  |  |  |  | cruel *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **leave** | should | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They want you to scold a horse

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t11:o3:1
# text = They want you to scold a horse
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	scold	scold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | present | They | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **scold** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | a horse |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horse=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a rude rhyme about mums

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t11:o4:1
# text = It is a rude rhyme about mums
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	rude	rude	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	rhyme	rhyme	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	about	about	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	mums	mum	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a rude rhyme |  |  |  | about mums | 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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- ← previous: [The four tones: same sound, different…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/2-the-four-tones/t10/)
- next →: [The four tones: same sound, different…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/2-the-four-tones/e1/)
- ↑ back to [The four tones: same sound, different meaning](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/2-the-four-tones/)