---
title: “This,” said he to himself, “must have come from the gods, whether t… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: “This,” said he to himself, “must have come from the gods, whether to help me to leave the earth or to keep me on it I will test and see.” Who acts: This, me, I. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Chinese Tea-house Story, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Chinese Tea-house Story, sentence 84

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“This,” said he to himself, “must have come from the gods, whether to help me to leave the earth or to keep me on it I will test and see.”

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**Who acts:** This, me, I · **What happens:** say, come, help, leave, keep, test · **To what, where:** Buddha, me, earth · **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 (This, me, 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:pg75089:10:84
# text = “This,” said he to himself, “must have come from the gods, whether to help me to leave the earth or to keep me on it I will test and see.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	aux	_	_
13	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	parataxis	_	_
14	from	from	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
21	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
29	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	on	on	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obl	_	_
32	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	test	test	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	see	see	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | This |  | Buddha |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **come** *in a quote* | must · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | from the gods | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from god=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **help** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | me |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent i=Beneficiary clause=Theme |
| 4 | **leave** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | me *not said here* | the earth |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent earth=Theme |
| 5 | **keep** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | me *not said here* | me |  | earth |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent i=Theme on it=Location |
| 6 | **test** *in a quote* | future | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **see** *in a quote* | infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .note -->
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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