---
title: A cartoon shows a kid learning "the Chinese alphabet A to Z". What's… — Mandarin compared with English · tree and pragmatics
description: A cartoon shows a kid learning "the Chinese alphabet A to Z". What's wrong? Test 4 · ★ 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Mandarin compared with English

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cartoon shows a kid learning "the Chinese alphabet A to Z". What's wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cartoon, kid · **What happens:** show, learn, be · **To what, where:** kid, Chinese alphabet

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 34 «Mandarin compared with English» of the language 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/language/34-mandarin-compared-with-english/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cartoon shows a kid learning "the Chinese alphabet A to Z".

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t4:1
# text = A cartoon shows a kid learning "the Chinese alphabet A to Z".
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	kid	kid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	learning	learn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
11	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	Z	z	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | a cartoon |  | a kid |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent kid=Recipient |
| 2 | **learn** | gerund | a kid *not said here* | the Chinese alphabet |  |  |  | to Z | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent alphabet=Topic |

<!-- .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's wrong?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t4:2
# text = What's wrong?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Chinese has only 4 letters

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t4:o1:1
# text = Chinese has only 4 letters
1	Chinese	Chinese	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	4	4	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Chinese | 4 letters |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent letter=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It should be Z to A

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t4:o2:1
# text = It should be Z to A
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	Z	z	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | should | It | Z |  |  |  | to A | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Chinese uses characters, not an A to Z alphabet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t4:o3:1
# text = Chinese uses characters, not an A to Z alphabet
1	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	uses	use	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	characters	character	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
6	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Z	z	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | present |  | characters |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, Chinese has 26 letters, the same as English

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t4:o4:1
# text = Nothing, Chinese has 26 letters, the same as English
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	Chinese	Chinese	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	26	26	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	appos	_	_
10	as	as	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Nothing | 26 letters |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent letter=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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