---
title: To make sure, she said, “I will try this charm and see if it will wo… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: To make sure, she said, “I will try this charm and see if it will work or if the priest has lied to me; I want some meat dumplings for supper.” Who acts: lady, charm, priest. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, How the Dog and Cat Came to Be Enemies, with its dep
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, How the Dog and Cat Came to Be Enemies, sentence 16

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To make sure, she said, “I will try this charm and see if it will work or if the priest has lied to me; I want some meat dumplings for supper.”

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**Who acts:** lady, charm, priest · **What happens:** make, say, try, see, work, lie · **To what, where:** charm, lady, meat dumplings · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, How the Dog and Cat Came to Be Enemies. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lady, charm, priest), 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:pg75089:14:16
# text = To make sure, she said, “I will try this charm and see if it will work or if the priest has lied to me; I want some meat dumplings for supper.”
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
12	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	13	det	_	_
13	charm	charm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
16	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	ccomp	_	_
20	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
21	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
24	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	lied	lie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	conj	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
31	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	33	det	_	_
32	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	dumplings	dumpling	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obj	_	_
34	for	for	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	supper	supper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | lady |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **try** *in a quote* | future | lady | this charm |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent charm=Eventuality |
| 4 | **see** *in a quote* | infinitive | lady *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **work** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | future | charm |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **lie** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present · perfect | the priest |  | lady |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **want** *in a quote* | present | lady | some meat dumplings |  |  |  | for supper | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot dumpling=Theme |

<!-- .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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