---
title: Why are tāngyuán round, the family says? — Lanterns, dragon boats, mooncakes and… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why are tāngyuán round, the family says? Test 9 · ★★ of lesson 27 «Lanterns, dragon boats, mooncakes and birthdays» 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 right.
---

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# Test 9 · ★★ · Lanterns, dragon boats, mooncakes and birthdays

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why are tāngyuán round, the family says?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** family · **What happens:** tāngyuán, say · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 27 «Lanterns, dragon boats, mooncakes and birthdays» 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/27-lanterns-dragon-boats-mooncakes-birthdays/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:27-lanterns-dragon-boats-mooncakes-birthdays:t9:1
# text = Why are tāngyuán round, the family says?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	tāngyuán	tāngyuán	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	ccomp	_	_
4	round	round	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tāngyuán** | present · passive |  |  |  |  |  | round *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the family |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Round looks like a shiny gold coin

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:27-lanterns-dragon-boats-mooncakes-birthdays:t9:o1:1
# text = Round looks like a shiny gold coin
1	Round	round	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	looks	look	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	shiny	shiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	coin	coin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | present |  |  |  |  |  | like a shiny gold coin | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Round means the family together

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:27-lanterns-dragon-boats-mooncakes-birthdays:t9:o2:1
# text = Round means the family together
1	Round	round	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	together	together	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present |  | the family |  |  |  | round, together *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent family=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Round ones roll into the pot faster

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:27-lanterns-dragon-boats-mooncakes-birthdays:t9:o3:1
# text = Round ones roll into the pot faster
1	Round	round	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	roll	roll	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **roll** | present | Round ones |  |  | the pot |  | fast *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into pot=Destination |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Round is much easier to chew and swallow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:27-lanterns-dragon-boats-mooncakes-birthdays:t9:o4:1
# text = Round is much easier to chew and swallow
1	Round	round	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	much	much	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	easier	easy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	chew	chew	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	swallow	swallow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Round |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **chew** | to-infinitive | Round *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **swallow** | infinitive | Round *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn hiccup-40.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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.

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- ← previous: [Lanterns, dragon boats, mooncakes and…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/27-lanterns-dragon-boats-mooncakes-birthdays/t8/)
- next →: [Lanterns, dragon boats, mooncakes and…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/27-lanterns-dragon-boats-mooncakes-birthdays/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Lanterns, dragon boats, mooncakes and birthdays](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/27-lanterns-dragon-boats-mooncakes-birthdays/)