---
title: Chi Hsiao Tang replied, “I am a man of mean ability, but that is ind… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Chi Hsiao Tang replied, “I am a man of mean ability, but that is indeed an easy subject which you give me. Who acts: Chi, that, you. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Chinese Tea-house Story, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Chinese Tea-house Story, sentence 12

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Chi Hsiao Tang replied, “I am a man of mean ability, but that is indeed an easy subject which you give me.

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**Who acts:** Chi, that, you · **What happens:** reply, be, give · **To what, where:** man, easy subject, Chi · **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, that, you), 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:pg75089:10:12
# text = Chi Hsiao Tang replied, “I am a man of mean ability, but that is indeed an easy subject which you give me.
1	Chi	Chi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	Hsiao	Hsiao	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	_
3	Tang	Tang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	mean	mean	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	ability	ability	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
16	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	nsubj	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
18	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
19	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	advcl	_	_
22	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	24	obj	_	_
23	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	give	give	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
25	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Chi |  |  |  |  | Tang *nsubj* | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | Chi | a man |  |  |  | of mean ability | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | that | a easy subject |  |  |  | indeed *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **give** *in a quote* | present | you | a easy subject | Chi |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient which=Theme |

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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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