---
title: A friend says the red everywhere at New Year is just because Chinese… — Spring Festival — Chinese New Year · tree and pragmatics
description: A friend says the red everywhere at New Year is just because Chinese people like red. What does the old story add? Test 7 of lesson 25 «Spring Festival — Chinese New Year» of the Chinese street course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each optio
---

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# Test 7 · Spring Festival — Chinese New Year

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A friend says the red everywhere at New Year is just because Chinese people like red. What does the old story add?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** friend, red New Year, old story · **What happens:** say, be, add · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 of lesson 25 «Spring Festival — Chinese New Year» 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/25-spring-festival/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A friend says the red everywhere at New Year is just because Chinese people like red.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:25-spring-festival:t7:1
# text = A friend says the red everywhere at New Year is just because Chinese people like red.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
5	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
6	everywhere	everywhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	9	advmod	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	New	New	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	Year	Year	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
11	just	just	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
12	because	because	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	14	case	_	_
13	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	ccomp	_	_
15	like	like	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a friend |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | the red New Year |  |  |  |  | because Chinese people; like red | 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What does the old story add?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:25-spring-festival:t7:2
# text = What does the old story add?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	obl	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	add	add	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **add** *speech: assert* | present · do-support | the old story |  |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Red scared away the monster nián

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:25-spring-festival:t7:o1:1
# text = Red scared away the monster nián
1	Red	Red	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	scared	scare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	away	away	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	monster	monster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	nián	nián	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scare away** | past | Red | the monster nián |  |  |  | away *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus nián=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Red is cheap in winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:25-spring-festival:t7:o2:1
# text = Red is cheap in winter
1	Red	Red	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	cheap	cheap	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Red means danger, so keep away from the house

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:25-spring-festival:t7:o3:1
# text = Red means danger, so keep away from the house
1	Red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
7	away	away	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Red | danger |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent danger=Topic |
| 2 | **keep away** | infinitive |  |  |  | the house |  | away *property* | vn forbid-64.4 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer from house=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Red is for weddings only, not New Year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:25-spring-festival:t7:o4:1
# text = Red is for weddings only, not New Year
1	Red	Red	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	weddings	wedding	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
8	New	New	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	Year	Year	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Red |  |  |  | New Year | for weddings | 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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