---
title: “What has he done that he should be so degraded?” asked Chi Hsiao Ta… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: “What has he done that he should be so degraded?” asked Chi Hsiao Tang of a man standing near. Who acts: crowd, man. 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 39

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“What has he done that he should be so degraded?” asked Chi Hsiao Tang of a man standing near.

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**Who acts:** crowd, man · **What happens:** do, degrade, ask, stand · **To what, where:** crowd, Hsiao Tang · **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 (crowd, man), 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:pg75089:10:39
# text = “What has he done that he should be so degraded?” asked Chi Hsiao Tang of a man standing near.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
3	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
8	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	aux:pass	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	degraded	degrade	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
14	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	Chi	Chi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	Hsiao	Hsiao	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	Tang	Tang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
21	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	20	acl	_	_
22	near	near	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** *in a quote* | present · perfect | crowd |  |  |  |  | What *obj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 2 | **degrade** *in a quote* | should · passive |  | crowd |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  | Hsiao Tang of a man |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **stand** | gerund | a man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | near *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «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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