---
title: Why do I repeat the name of the great Buddha hundreds of times each… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do I repeat the name of the great Buddha hundreds of times each day, before anything to eat or drink crosses my lips? Who acts: I. 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 69

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Why do I repeat the name of the great Buddha hundreds of times each day, before anything to eat or drink crosses my lips?

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** repeat, eat, drink, name · **To what, where:** name, crosses, great Buddha hundreds

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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 (I), 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:pg75089:10:69
# text = Why do I repeat the name of the great Buddha hundreds of times each day, before anything to eat or drink crosses my lips?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	repeat	repeat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
10	Buddha	Buddha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	hundreds	hundred	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
14	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	det	_	_
15	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	before	before	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	parataxis	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	acl	_	_
21	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	conj	_	_
23	crosses	cross	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
24	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	lips	lip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	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 | **repeat** | present · do-support | I | the name of the great Buddha hundreds of times |  |  | day | anything *parataxis* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent name=Eventuality |
| 2 | **eat** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **drink** | infinitive | I *not said here* | crosses |  |  |  | my lips *obj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **name** |  |  | the great Buddha hundreds of times |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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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