---
title: I promise, on my life, to send it back to you if indeed he does not… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: I promise, on my life, to send it back to you if indeed he does not make over the promised cities.” Who acts: I, Chou. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, The Jade Treasure, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, The Jade Treasure, sentence 34

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I promise, on my life, to send it back to you if indeed he does not make over the promised cities.”

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**Who acts:** I, Chou · **What happens:** promise, send back, not make · **To what, where:** life, you, promised cities

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, The Jade Treasure. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Chou), 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:pg75089:11:34
# text = I promise, on my life, to send it back to you if indeed he does not make over the promised cities.”
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	promise	promise	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	send	send	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	back	back	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	_
14	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
15	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	_
20	over	over	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	promised	promise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	amod	_	_
23	cities	city	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **promise** *speech: promise* | present | I |  |  | my life |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **send back** | to-infinitive |  | life | you |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme to you=Destination |
| 3 | **not** **make** *a condition, not said to happen* | present · do-support | Chou |  |  | the promised cities |  | indeed *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **promise** *speech: promise* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: 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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