---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises Mand… — Mandarin compared with English · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises Mandarin as a tonal language? Exam question 1 of lesson 34 «Mandarin compared with English» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was w
---

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# Exam question 1 · Mandarin compared with English

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises Mandarin as a tonal language?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** Mandarin

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 34 «Mandarin compared with English» of the language 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/language/34-mandarin-compared-with-english/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises Mandarin as a tonal language?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	Mandarin	Mandarin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	as	as	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	tonal	tonal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | Mandarin |  |  |  | of the following statements; as a tonal language; accurately *property* | 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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tones are employed solely in song

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:e1:o1:1
# text = Tones are employed solely in song
1	Tones	tone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	solely	solely	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **employ** | present · passive |  | Tones |  | song |  | solely *property* | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tones are a regional accent of no grammatical consequence

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:e1:o2:1
# text = Tones are a regional accent of no grammatical consequence
1	Tones	tone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	regional	regional	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	accent	accent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
8	grammatical	grammatical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	consequence	consequence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Tones | a regional accent |  |  |  | of no grammatical consequence | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pitch pattern of a syllable distinguishes one word from another

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:e1:o3:1
# text = The pitch pattern of a syllable distinguishes one word from another
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	pitch	pitch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	pattern	pattern	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	syllable	syllable	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	distinguishes	distinguish	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **distinguish** | present | the pitch pattern of a syllable | one word |  |  |  | from another | vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent word=Theme from another=Co-Theme |
| 2 | **pattern** |  | a syllable |  |  |  |  |  | nom pattern «cognition intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pitch of the voice conveys only the emotion of the speaker and never alters meaning

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:e1:o4:1
# text = The pitch of the voice conveys only the emotion of the speaker and never alters meaning
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pitch	pitch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	conveys	convey	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	emotion	emotion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	speaker	speaker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	alters	alter	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
16	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **convey** | present | the pitch of the voice | the emotion of the speaker |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent emotion=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **alter** | present | the pitch of the voice *not said here* | meaning |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent meaning=Patient |
| 3 | **emote** |  |  | the speaker |  |  |  |  | nom emotion «feeling transitive»: of=patient |

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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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