---
title: But he thought, “These are surely two gods in disguise,” and kneelin… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: But he thought, “These are surely two gods in disguise,” and kneeling before them he said, “I prostrate myself to you, my Teachers. Who acts: Chi, These. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Chinese Tea-house Story, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Chinese Tea-house Story, sentence 108

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But he thought, “These are surely two gods in disguise,” and kneeling before them he said, “I prostrate myself to you, my Teachers.

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**Who acts:** Chi, These · **What happens:** think, be, kneel, say, prostrate · **To what, where:** two gods, disguise, Chi, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Chinese Tea-house Story. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Chi, These), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75089:10:108
# text = But he thought, “These are surely two gods in disguise,” and kneeling before them he said, “I prostrate myself to you, my Teachers.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	These	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	10	nsubj	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	surely	surely	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	ccomp	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	disguise	disguise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
16	kneeling	kneel	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	20	csubj	_	_
17	before	before	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	prostrate	prostrate	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	ccomp	_	_
25	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	24	obj	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	Teachers	teacher	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Chi |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | These | two gods |  | disguise |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **kneel** | gerund |  |  |  |  | before men *= man* |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before they=Location |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Chi |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **prostrate** *in a quote* | present | Chi | Chi | you |  |  | my Teachers *obl* | 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.

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**Text:** «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Project Gutenberg book 75089 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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