---
title: Identify the principal reason why a single mispronounced tone may al… — Grandparents abroad and grandparents y… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason why a single mispronounced tone may alter the meaning of a word in Mandarin. Exam question 2 of lesson 513 «Grandparents abroad and grandparents you never met» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and o
---

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# Exam question 2 · Grandparents abroad and grandparents you never met

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason why a single mispronounced tone may alter the meaning of a word in Mandarin.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, single mispronounced tone · **What happens:** identify, mispronounce, alter, mean · **To what, where:** principal reason, meaning, word

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 513 «Grandparents abroad and grandparents you never met» of the everyday 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/everyday/513-grandparents-abroad-and-grandparents-you-never-met/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:513-grandparents-abroad-and-grandparents-you-never-met:e2:1
# text = Identify the principal reason why a single mispronounced tone may alter the meaning of a word in Mandarin.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	mispronounced	mispronounce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	amod	_	_
9	tone	tone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	alter	alter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl:relcl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	Mandarin	Mandarin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **mispronounce** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **alter** | may | a single mispronounced tone | the meaning of a word in Mandarin |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent meaning=Patient |
| 4 | **mean** |  |  | a word in Mandarin |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mandarin words possess no fixed meaning of any kind

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:513-grandparents-abroad-and-grandparents-you-never-met:e2:o1:1
# text = Mandarin words possess no fixed meaning of any kind
1	Mandarin	mandarin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	possess	possess	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
5	fixed	fixed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	det	_	_
9	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | present | Mandarin words | no fixed meaning of any kind |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot meaning=Theme |
| 2 | **mean** |  |  | any kind |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only the first syllable of each word carries meaning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:513-grandparents-abroad-and-grandparents-you-never-met:e2:o2:1
# text = Only the first syllable of each word carries meaning
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	amod	_	_
4	syllable	syllable	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	carries	carry	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry** | present | the first syllable of each word | meaning |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tone is part of a word's meaning in that language

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:513-grandparents-abroad-and-grandparents-you-never-met:e2:o3:1
# text = Tone is part of a word's meaning in that language
1	Tone	tone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	det	_	_
11	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Tone | part |  | that language |  | of a word's meaning | tree rules |
| 2 | **mean** |  | a word |  |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mandarin is spoken without any variation in pitch

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:513-grandparents-abroad-and-grandparents-you-never-met:e2:o4:1
# text = Mandarin is spoken without any variation in pitch
1	Mandarin	Mandarin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	without	without	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	variation	variation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	pitch	pitch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | present · passive |  | Mandarin |  |  |  | without any variation in pitch | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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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