---
title: Ascertain the reason for which a giver in Japan may describe a costl… — Told you a hundred times: how other la… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the reason for which a giver in Japan may describe a costly gift as «a boring little thing». Exam question 3 of lesson 53 «Told you a hundred times: how other languages exaggerate and play down» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the
---

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# Exam question 3 · Told you a hundred times: how other languages exaggerate a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the reason for which a giver in Japan may describe a costly gift as «a boring little thing».

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, giver · **What happens:** ascertain, describe · **To what, where:** reason, costly gift

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 53 «Told you a hundred times: how other languages exaggerate and play down» 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/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down:e3:1
# text = Ascertain the reason for which a giver in Japan may describe a costly gift as «a boring little thing».
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obl	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	giver	giver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Japan	Japan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
10	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	describe	describe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	costly	costly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	gift	gift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	as	as	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
16	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
18	boring	boring	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
19	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the reason |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **describe** | may | a giver in Japan | a costly gift |  |  |  | for the reason; as a boring little thing | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent gift=Theme as thing=Attribute |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a customary expression of politeness

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down:e3:o1:1
# text = It is a customary expression of politeness
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	customary	customary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	expression	expression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	politeness	politeness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a request for the return of the gift

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down:e3:o2:1
# text = It is a request for the return of the gift
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	request	request	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	return	return	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	gift	gift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a request |  |  |  | for the return of the gift | tree rules |
| 2 | **return** |  | the gift |  |  |  |  |  | nom return «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is an expression of dislike for the recipient

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down:e3:o3:1
# text = It is an expression of dislike for the recipient
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	expression	expression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	dislike	dislike	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	recipient	recipient	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a expression |  |  |  | of dislike; for the recipient | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is an accurate assessment of the gift

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down:e3:o4:1
# text = It is an accurate assessment of the gift
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	accurate	accurate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	assessment	assessment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	gift	gift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a accurate assessment |  |  |  | of the gift | 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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- ↑ back to [Told you a hundred times: how other languages exaggerate and play down](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/53-told-you-a-hundred-times-how-other-languages-exaggerate-and-play-down/)