---
title: Did I not take flesh from my own arm to make a broth which cured our… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Did I not take flesh from my own arm to make a broth which cured our mother when she was ill? Who acts: I, broth, denial. 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 76

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Did I not take flesh from my own arm to make a broth which cured our mother when she was ill?

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**Who acts:** I, broth, denial · **What happens:** not take, make, cure, be · **To what, where:** flesh, own arm, broth, mother

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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, broth, denial), 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:pg75089:10:76
# text = Did I not take flesh from my own arm to make a broth which cured our mother when she was ill?
1	Did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	broth	broth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
15	cured	cure	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
16	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	21	mark	_	_
19	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
21	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **take** | past · do-support | I | flesh |  | my own arm |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent flesh=Theme from arm=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | a broth |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset broth=Product |
| 3 | **cure** | past | a broth | our mother |  |  |  |  | vn free-10.6.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer mother=Source |
| 4 | **is** | past | denial |  |  |  |  | ill *property* | tree rules |

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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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