---
title: Our babies are sick and cry all the time and we thought it better th… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Our babies are sick and cry all the time and we thought it better that we die outside than to make others suffer with us.” Who acts: babies, we, others. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Chinese Heroism, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Chinese Heroism, sentence 28

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Our babies are sick and cry all the time and we thought it better that we die outside than to make others suffer with us.”

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**Who acts:** babies, we, others · **What happens:** be, cry, think, die, make, suffer · **To what, where:** message, others · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Chinese Heroism. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (babies, we, others), 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:pg75089:12:28
# text = Our babies are sick and cry all the time and we thought it better that we die outside than to make others suffer with us.”
1	Our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	cry	cry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
7	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	9	det:predet	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl:unmarked	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	17	amod	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	die	die	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	ccomp	_	_
18	outside	outside	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
22	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
23	suffer	suffer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Our babies |  |  |  |  | sick *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **cry** *speech: express* | infinitive | Our babies *not said here* |  |  |  | time |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | we | message |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent it=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 4 | **die** | present | we |  |  |  |  | outside *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 5 | **make** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | others |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **suffer** | infinitive | others *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with us | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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