---
title: Five years ago, during the heavy rains, our house fell down and we w… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Five years ago, during the heavy rains, our house fell down and we were too poor to hire enough men to rebuild, so I helped make the mud bricks and when they came to building the walls I sent up to them all the mud and plaster used. Who acts: house, we, I, bricks. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chine
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Literary Glory, sentence 24

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Five years ago, during the heavy rains, our house fell down and we were too poor to hire enough men to rebuild, so I helped make the mud bricks and when they came to building the walls I sent up to them all the mud and plaster used.

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**Who acts:** house, we, I, bricks · **What happens:** fall down, be, hire, rebuild, help, make · **To what, where:** enough men, mud bricks, walls, bricks

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Literary Glory. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (house, we, I, bricks), 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:pg75089:13:24
# text = Five years ago, during the heavy rains, our house fell down and we were too poor to hire enough men to rebuild, so I helped make the mud bricks and when they came to building the walls I sent up to them all the mud and plaster used.
1	Five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	during	during	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	rains	rain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
10	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	down	down	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
15	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	too	too	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	conj	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	hire	hire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	enough	enough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	rebuild	rebuild	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	helped	help	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
29	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	bricks	brick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	36	advmod	_	_
35	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	building	building	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	xcomp	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obj	_	_
41	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
42	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	acl:relcl	_	_
43	up	up	ADP	RP	_	42	compound:prt	_	_
44	to	to	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	obl	_	_
46	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	48	det:predet	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	plaster	plaster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	conj	_	_
51	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	38	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall down** | past | our house |  |  |  |  | ago, down *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | we |  |  |  |  | poor *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **hire** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | enough men |  |  |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent man=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 4 | **rebuild** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **help** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **make** | infinitive | I *not said here* | the mud bricks |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset brick=Product |
| 7 | **come** | past | bricks *= brick* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **building** | to-infinitive | bricks *= brick* *not said here* | the walls |  |  |  | all mud and plaster *obj* | tree rules |
| 9 | **send up** | past | I | the walls *not said here* | bricks *= brick* |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent wall=Theme to they=Destination |
| 10 | **use** | participle | bricks *= brick* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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