---
title: Why should you not stand chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice? — A guest at the table, and manners on t… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why should you not stand chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice? Test 4 · ★★ of lesson 128 «A guest at the table, and manners on the phone» of the everyday 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 4 · ★★ · A guest at the table, and manners on the phone

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why should you not stand chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** not stand · **To what, where:** chopsticks, bowl

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★★ of lesson 128 «A guest at the table, and manners on the phone» of the everyday 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/everyday/128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone:t4:1
# text = Why should you not stand chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	stand	stand	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	chopsticks	chopstick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
7	upright	upright	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	bowl	bowl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	rice	rice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **stand** | should | you | chopsticks |  | a bowl of rice |  | upright *property* | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent chopstick=Theme in bowl=Destination |

<!-- .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 -->
Because it makes the rice go cold faster

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone:t4:o1:1
# text = Because it makes the rice go cold faster
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	rice	rice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
7	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
8	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | it | the rice |  |  |  | fast *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **go** | infinitive | the rice *not said here* |  |  |  |  | cold *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because chopsticks must always stay in your hand until the meal ends

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone:t4:o2:1
# text = Because chopsticks must always stay in your hand until the meal ends
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	chopsticks	chopstick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
5	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	meal	meal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	ends	end	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stay** | must | chopsticks |  |  | your hand |  | always *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in hand=Location |
| 2 | **end** | present | the meal |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It looks like a funeral custom in some Asian cultures

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone:t4:o3:1
# text = It looks like a funeral custom in some Asian cultures
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	looks	look	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	like	like	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	funeral	funeral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	det	_	_
9	Asian	Asian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	cultures	culture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | present | It |  |  |  |  | like a funeral custom; in some Asian cultures | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in culture=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because the rice will spill out at once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:128-guest-at-the-table-and-the-phone:t4:o4:1
# text = Because the rice will spill out at once
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	rice	rice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	spill	spill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spill out** | future | the rice |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at once=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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