---
title: «ugh, tones are just accent, nobody cares» Which is right? — The four tones: same sound, different… · tree and pragmatics
description: «ugh, tones are just accent, nobody cares» Which is right? Test 7 · ★★ 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 7 · ★★ · The four tones: same sound, different meaning

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«ugh, tones are just accent, nobody cares» Which is right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** tones, nobody · **What happens:** be, care · **To what, where:** accent

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★★ 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/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t7:1
# text = «ugh, tones are just accent, nobody cares» Which is right?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	ugh	ugh	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	tones	tone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	just	just	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	accent	accent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	10	nsubj	_	_
10	cares	care	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
12	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | tones | accent |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **care** *in a quote* | present | nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
Yes, only old people in the countryside use tones

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t7:o1:1
# text = Yes, only old people in the countryside use tones
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	countryside	countryside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	use	use	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	tones	tone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | present | old people in the countryside | tones |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tone=Patient |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tones change the meaning, like vowels in English

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t7:o2:1
# text = Tones change the meaning, like vowels in English
1	Tones	tone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	change	change	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	vowels	vowel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | present | Tones | the meaning |  |  |  | like vowels in English | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tones only matter in writing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t7:o3:1
# text = Tones only matter in writing
1	Tones	tone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	matter	matter	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **matter** | present | Tones |  |  | writing |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, tones are only for singing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:2-the-four-tones:t7:o4:1
# text = Yes, tones are only for singing
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	tones	tone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | present · progressive | tones |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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- ← previous: [The four tones: same sound, different…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/2-the-four-tones/t6/)
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