---
title: Your uncle from Singapore says "this market very crowded lah, people… — Mandarin compared with English · tree and pragmatics
description: Your uncle from Singapore says "this market very crowded lah, people mountain people sea." ("Lah" is a little word at the end of a sentence in Singapore English.) What does he mean? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 34 «Mandarin compared with English» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dep
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · Mandarin compared with English

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Your uncle from Singapore says "this market very crowded lah, people mountain people sea." ("Lah" is a little word at the end of a sentence in Singapore English.) What does he mean?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** uncle, Lah · **What happens:** say, be, mean · **To what, where:** market, little word, end · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ 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/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Your uncle from Singapore says "this market very crowded lah, people mountain people sea."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t6:1
# text = Your uncle from Singapore says "this market very crowded lah, people mountain people sea."
1	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Singapore	Singapore	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	market	market	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	crowded	crowded	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	lah	lah	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	compound	_	_
14	mountain	mountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
15	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	compound	_	_
16	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Your uncle from Singapore | this market and crowded lah and people mountain |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent market=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:* ("Lah" is a little word at the end of a sentence in Singapore English.)

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t6:2
# text = ("Lah" is a little word at the end of a sentence in Singapore English.)
1	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Lah	Lah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	Singapore	Singapore	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Lah | a little word |  |  | at the end of a sentence in Singapore English |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* What does he mean?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t6:3
# text = What does he mean?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present · do-support | lah |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It's selling fish

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t6:o1:1
# text = It's selling fish
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	selling	sell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sell** | present · progressive | It | fish |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It's by the mountains and sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t6:o2:1
# text = It's by the mountains and sea
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | by the mountains and sea | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It's empty

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t6:o3:1
# text = It's empty
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It's very crowded

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t6:o4:1
# text = It's very crowded
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	crowded	crowded	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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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