---
title: In the year 629 A.D., a very devout monk, T’ang Sung, hoping to achi… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: In the year 629 A.D., a very devout monk, T’ang Sung, hoping to achieve merit by which he might avoid death and that he might become one of the Eternal Holy Ones, accepted the proposal of his Emperor that he should go to the west in search of the famous Buddhist Classics. Who acts: T’ang, Emperor. A
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics, sentence 1

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In the year 629 A.D., a very devout monk, T’ang Sung, hoping to achieve merit by which he might avoid death and that he might become one of the Eternal Holy Ones, accepted the proposal of his Emperor that he should go to the west in search of the famous Buddhist Classics.

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**Who acts:** T’ang, Emperor · **What happens:** hope, achieve, avoid, become, accept, go · **To what, where:** merit, death, one, proposal, year A.D, search

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (T’ang, Emperor), 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:pg75089:16:1
# text = In the year 629 A.D., a very devout monk, T’ang Sung, hoping to achieve merit by which he might avoid death and that he might become one of the Eternal Holy Ones, accepted the proposal of his Emperor that he should go to the west in search of the famous Buddhist Classics.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
4	629	629	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	flat	_	_
5	A.D	A.D	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	devout	devout	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	monk	monk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	T’ang	T'ang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	_
14	Sung	Sung	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	hoping	hope	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	achieve	achieve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	merit	merit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	24	obl	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	avoid	avoid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	acl:relcl	_	_
25	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
31	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	30	obj	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
34	Eternal	Eternal	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
35	Holy	Holy	PROPN	NNP	_	36	compound	_	_
36	Ones	One	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
38	accepted	accept	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	proposal	proposal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	Emperor	emperor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nmod	_	_
44	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
45	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
46	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
47	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	advcl	_	_
48	to	to	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	west	west	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
51	in	in	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	search	search	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
53	of	of	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
55	famous	famous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	amod	_	_
56	Buddhist	Buddhist	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	57	compound	_	_
57	Classics	classic	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	38	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hope** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **achieve** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | merit |  |  |  |  | vn complete-55.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent merit=Eventuality |
| 3 | **avoid** | might | T’ang *= t'ang* | death |  |  |  | by merit | vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent death=Location |
| 4 | **become** | might | T’ang *= t'ang* | one of the Eternal Holy Ones |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Patient one=Result |
| 5 | **accept** | past |  | the proposal of T’ang's Emperor |  | the year A.D |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent proposal=Theme |
| 6 | **go** | should | T’ang *= t'ang* |  |  | search of the famous Buddhist Classics |  | to the west | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to west=Initial\_Location |
| 7 | **propose** |  | T’ang's Emperor |  |  |  |  |  | nom proposal «communication intransitive»: of=agent |
| 8 | **search** |  |  | the famous Buddhist Classics |  |  |  |  | nom search «act transitive»: of=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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