---
title: Along came a man who asked why he was crying and he said, “I promise… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Along came a man who asked why he was crying and he said, “I promised to take a monk to India and to protect him. Who acts: man. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of 
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics, sentence 134

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Along came a man who asked why he was crying and he said, “I promised to take a monk to India and to protect him.

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**Who acts:** man · **What happens:** come, ask, cry, say, promise, take · **To what, where:** monk, India · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (man), 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:pg75089:16:134
# text = Along came a man who asked why he was crying and he said, “I promised to take a monk to India and to protect him.
1	Along	along	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	crying	cry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	ccomp	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	promised	promise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	ccomp	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	monk	monk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	India	India	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	protect	protect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | a man |  |  |  |  | along *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | a man |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **cry** *speech: express* | past · progressive | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **promise** *speech: promise* *in a quote* | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **take** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | a monk | India |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent monk=Theme to india=Destination |
| 7 | **protect** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | man *not said here* |  | monk |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary |

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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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