---
title: “Do you not remember that a great iron beam can be rubbed to a fine… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: “Do you not remember that a great iron beam can be rubbed to a fine needle if you but take time? Who acts: you. 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 every clause.
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics, sentence 138

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“Do you not remember that a great iron beam can be rubbed to a fine needle if you but take time?

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**Who acts:** you · **What happens:** not remember, rub, take · **To what, where:** great iron beam, fine needle · **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 (you), 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:pg75089:16:138
# text = “Do you not remember that a great iron beam can be rubbed to a fine needle if you but take time?
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	remember	remember	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	beam	beam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	rubbed	rub	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	ccomp	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	needle	needle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
18	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
19	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
22	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **remember** *in a quote* | present · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **rub** *in a quote* | can · passive |  | a great iron beam | a fine needle |  |  | you *obl* | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Patient to needle=Recipient |
| 3 | **take** *in a quote* | infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  | time |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=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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