---
title: The mother said, “When I heard the girl my son was engaged to was a… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: The mother said, “When I heard the girl my son was engaged to was a Christian and in school I was very angry and wanted to break off the engagement. Who acts: mother. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Literary Glory, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Literary Glory, sentence 32

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The mother said, “When I heard the girl my son was engaged to was a Christian and in school I was very angry and wanted to break off the engagement.

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**Who acts:** mother · **What happens:** say, hear, engage, be, want, break off · **To what, where:** girl, son, school, engagement · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (mother), 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:pg75089:13:32
# text = The mother said, “When I heard the girl my son was engaged to was a Christian and in school I was very angry and wanted to break off the engagement.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	engaged	engage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	ccomp	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Christian	Christian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	advcl	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	very	very	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	conj	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	off	off	ADP	RP	_	29	compound:prt	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	engagement	engagement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the mother |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **hear** *in a quote* | past | the mother *= mother* | the girl |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **engage** *in a quote* | past · passive |  | my son |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | past |  |  |  |  |  | christian *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | past | the mother *= mother* |  |  | school |  | angry *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **want** *in a quote* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 7 | **break off** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | the engagement |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer engagement=Patient |

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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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