---
title: Ascertain the appropriate reply of a person asked nín guì xìng. — Names and "how old are you?" · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the appropriate reply of a person asked nín guì xìng. Exam question 2 of lesson 5 «Names and "how old are you?"» 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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# Exam question 2 · Names and "how old are you?"

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the appropriate reply of a person asked nín guì xìng.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, nín · **What happens:** ascertain, ask, xìng, reply · **To what, where:** appropriate reply, person · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 5 «Names and "how old are you?"» 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/5-names-and-how-old/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:5-names-and-how-old:e2:1
# text = Ascertain the appropriate reply of a person asked nín guì xìng.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reply	reply	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	asked	ask	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
9	nín	nín	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	11	nsubj	_	_
10	guì	guì	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	9	flat:foreign	_	_
11	xìng	xìng	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	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 appropriate reply of a person |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reply=Topic |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | participle |  | a person *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **xìng** |  | nín |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **reply** |  |  | a person |  |  |  |  | nom reply «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
wǒ jiǔ suì

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:5-names-and-how-old:e2:o1:1
# text = wǒ jiǔ suì
1	wǒ	wǒ	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	0	root	_	_
2	jiǔ	jiǔ	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	1	flat:foreign	_	_
3	suì	suì	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	1	flat:foreign	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
wǒ guì xìng followed by the surname

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:5-names-and-how-old:e2:o2:1
# text = wǒ guì xìng followed by the surname
1	wǒ	wǒ	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	guì	guì	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	1	flat:foreign	_	_
3	xìng	xìng	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	followed	follow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	surname	surname	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund · passive | the surname | wǒ |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
nǐ jiào shénme míngzi

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:5-names-and-how-old:e2:o3:1
# text = nǐ jiào shénme míngzi
1	nǐ	nǐ	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	0	root	_	_
2	jiào	jiào	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	1	dep	_	_
3	shénme	shénme	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	míngzi	míngzi	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
wǒ xìng followed by the surname

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:5-names-and-how-old:e2:o4:1
# text = wǒ xìng followed by the surname
1	wǒ	wǒ	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	2	compound	_	_
2	xìng	xìng	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	followed	follow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	surname	surname	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | participle |  | wǒ xìng *not said here* |  |  |  | by the surname | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme by surname=Location |

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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: [Names and "how old are you?", exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/e1/)
- next →: [Names and "how old are you?", exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/e3/)
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