---
title: As he declined to give a reason, other than “I have business,” his r… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: As he declined to give a reason, other than “I have business,” his request was refused. Who acts: workman. 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 7

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As he declined to give a reason, other than “I have business,” his request was refused.

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**Who acts:** workman · **What happens:** decline, not give, refuse, request · **To what, where:** reason, request

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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 (workman), 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:pg75089:11:7
# text = As he declined to give a reason, other than “I have business,” his request was refused.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	declined	decline	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
10	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
11	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
14	business	business	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	request	request	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	refused	refuse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decline** | past | workman |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **give** | to-infinitive | workman *not said here* | a reason |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 3 | **refuse** | present · passive |  | workman's request |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **request** |  | workman |  |  |  |  |  | nom request «communication transitive»: poss=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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