---
title: The next day he presented it to the Emperor as his own “mean effort,… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: The next day he presented it to the Emperor as his own “mean effort,” and humbly begged for pardon that he could do no better for his great and mighty sovereign. Who acts: One. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Chinese Tea-house Story, with its dependency tre
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Chinese Tea-house Story, sentence 26

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The next day he presented it to the Emperor as his own “mean effort,” and humbly begged for pardon that he could do no better for his great and mighty sovereign.

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**Who acts:** One · **What happens:** present, beg, do · **To what, where:** perusal, Emperor

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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 (One), 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:pg75089:10:26
# text = The next day he presented it to the Emperor as his own “mean effort,” and humbly begged for pardon that he could do no better for his great and mighty sovereign.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	presented	present	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Emperor	Emperor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	as	as	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
12	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	mean	mean	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	effort	effort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	humbly	humbly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	begged	beg	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	pardon	pardon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	advcl	_	_
27	no	no	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	26	advmod	_	_
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
31	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	conj	_	_
34	sovereign	sovereign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **present** | past | One | perusal | the Emperor |  | day | as One's own mean effort | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Theme to emperor=Recipient |
| 2 | **beg** *speech: request* | participle | One *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for pardon; humbly *property* | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent for pardon=Topic |
| 3 | **do** | could | One |  |  |  |  | for One's great sovereign | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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