---
title: Ascertain the reason for which certain grandparents' birthdays fall… — Days of the week, the clock, birthdays · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the reason for which certain grandparents' birthdays fall on differing Western dates from year to year. Exam question 4 of lesson 22 «Days of the week, the clock, birthdays» of the Chinese street course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and o
---

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# Exam question 4 · Days of the week, the clock, birthdays

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the reason for which certain grandparents' birthdays fall on differing Western dates from year to year.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, birthdays · **What happens:** ascertain, fall, differ · **To what, where:** reason, Western dates

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 22 «Days of the week, the clock, birthdays» 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/22-days-the-clock-and-birthdays/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:22-days-the-clock-and-birthdays:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the reason for which certain grandparents' birthdays fall on differing Western dates from year to year.
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	10	obl	_	_
6	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	grandparents	grandparent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	'	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	birthdays	birthday	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	fall	fall	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl	_	_
11	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	differing	differ	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
13	Western	western	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	dates	date	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	from	from	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	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 | **fall** | present | certain grandparents's birthdays |  |  |  |  | for the reason | vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for which=Theme |
| 3 | **differ** | gerund | certain grandparents's birthdays *not said here* | Western dates |  |  | year |  | 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are reckoned by the lunar calendar

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:22-days-the-clock-and-birthdays:e4:o1:1
# text = They are reckoned by the lunar calendar
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	reckoned	reckon	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	lunar	lunar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	calendar	calendar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reckon** | present · passive | the lunar calendar | They |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent subject=Attribute |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are moved to the nearest weekend by law

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:22-days-the-clock-and-birthdays:e4:o2:1
# text = They are moved to the nearest weekend by law
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	moved	move	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	nearest	near	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
7	weekend	weekend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move** | present · passive | law | They |  |  | weekend |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are chosen afresh annually by lot

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:22-days-the-clock-and-birthdays:e4:o3:1
# text = They are chosen afresh annually by lot
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	chosen	choose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	afresh	afresh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
5	annually	annually	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	lot	lot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **choose** | present · passive | lot | They |  |  |  | afresh, annually *property* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The grandparents misremember them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:22-days-the-clock-and-birthdays:e4:o4:1
# text = The grandparents misremember them
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	grandparents	grandparent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	misremember	misremember	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **misremember** | present | the grandparents | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | 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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