---
title: Ming's granny tells you sad news about her cat. Should you say duìbu… — Thank you, sorry, excuse me · tree and pragmatics
description: Ming's granny tells you sad news about her cat. Should you say duìbuqǐ? Test 2 · ★ of lesson 3 «Thank you, sorry, excuse me» 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 2 · ★ · Thank you, sorry, excuse me

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ming's granny tells you sad news about her cat. Should you say duìbuqǐ?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** granny, you · **What happens:** tell, say · **To what, where:** sad news, you, duìbuqǐ · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 3 «Thank you, sorry, excuse me» 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/3-thank-you-sorry-excuse-me/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Ming's granny tells you sad news about her cat.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:3-thank-you-sorry-excuse-me:t2:1
# text = Ming's granny tells you sad news about her cat.
1	Ming	Ming	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	granny	granny	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	tells	tell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	sad	sad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	about	about	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | Ming's granny | sad news | you |  |  | about granny's cat | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient news=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Should you say duìbuqǐ?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:3-thank-you-sorry-excuse-me:t2:2
# text = Should you say duìbuqǐ?
1	Should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	duìbuqǐ	duìbuqǐ	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | should | you | duìbuqǐ |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent duìbuqǐ=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, it means «poor cat»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:3-thank-you-sorry-excuse-me:t2:o1:1
# text = Yes, it means «poor cat»
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, duìbuqǐ is for something you did wrong

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:3-thank-you-sorry-excuse-me:t2:o2:1
# text = No, duìbuqǐ is for something you did wrong
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	duìbuqǐ	duìbuqǐ	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	0	root	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | duìbuqǐ |  |  |  |  | for something | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | past | you |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, you should say bú kèqi

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:3-thank-you-sorry-excuse-me:t2:o3:1
# text = No, you should say bú kèqi
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	bú	bú	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	5	obj	_	_
7	kèqi	kèqi	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	6	flat:foreign	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | should | you | bú |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent bú=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, it is the special sorry for sad news

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:3-thank-you-sorry-excuse-me:t2:o4:1
# text = Yes, it is the special sorry for sad news
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	special	special	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	sad	sad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | for sad news; sorry *property* | 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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- ← previous: [Thank you, sorry, excuse me, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/3-thank-you-sorry-excuse-me/t1/)
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