---
title: In a cartoon an English boy asks a teacher «nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?».… — Names and "how old are you?" · tree and pragmatics
description: In a cartoon an English boy asks a teacher «nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?». What is off? Test 9 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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# Test 9 · Names and "how old are you?"

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a cartoon an English boy asks a teacher «nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?». What is off?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** English boy · **What happens:** ask · **To what, where:** nǐ, teacher, cartoon

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 of lesson 5 «Names and "how old are you?"» 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/5-names-and-how-old/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a cartoon an English boy asks a teacher «nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:5-names-and-how-old:t9:1
# text = In a cartoon an English boy asks a teacher «nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?».
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	asks	ask	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	nǐ	nǐ	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	7	obj	_	_
12	jiào	jiào	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	11	flat:foreign	_	_
13	shénme	shénme	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	11	flat:foreign	_	_
14	míngzi	míngzi	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	11	flat:foreign	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | a English boy | nǐ | a teacher | a cartoon |  |  | 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 is off?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:5-names-and-how-old:t9:2
# text = What is off?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	off	off	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, it's the most polite way to ask a teacher

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:5-names-and-how-old:t9:o1:1
# text = Nothing, it's the most polite way to ask a teacher
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	polite	polite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Nothing | the polite way |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive |  |  | a teacher |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent teacher=Recipient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He said goodbye

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:5-names-and-how-old:t9:o2:1
# text = He said goodbye
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	goodbye	goodbye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He asked her age

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:5-names-and-how-old:t9:o3:1
# text = He asked her age
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | He | her age |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent age=Recipient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Too direct to a grown-up; adults ask you

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chinese-street:5-names-and-how-old:t9:o4:1
# text = Too direct to a grown-up; adults ask you
1	Too	too	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	direct	direct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	conj	_	_
5	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	adults	adult	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	ask	ask	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow up** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | adults |  | you |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |

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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: [Names and "how old are you?", test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/t8/)
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