---
title: To this the priest replied, “I have not come to get your help but to… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: To this the priest replied, “I have not come to get your help but to help you.” Who acts: priest, your. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, How the Dog and Cat Came to Be Enemies, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, How the Dog and Cat Came to Be Enemies, sentence 9

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To this the priest replied, “I have not come to get your help but to help you.”

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**Who acts:** priest, your · **What happens:** reply, not come, get, help · **To what, where:** this, help, you · **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 (priest, your), 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:pg75089:14:9
# text = To this the priest replied, “I have not come to get your help but to help you.”
1	To	to	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	obl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
19	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the priest |  | this |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to this=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **come** *in a quote* | present | the priest *= priest* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **get** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the priest *= priest* *not said here* | your help |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer help=Stimulus |
| 4 | **help** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the priest *= priest* *not said here* |  | you |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **help** *in a quote* |  | your |  |  |  |  |  | nom help «act 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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