---
title: “I can catch thieves and have power to do many strange things,” was… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: “I can catch thieves and have power to do many strange things,” was the reply; “and the only trouble with me is that I walk slowly.” Who acts: I. 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 t
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics, sentence 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“I can catch thieves and have power to do many strange things,” was the reply; “and the only trouble with me is that I walk slowly.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** catch, have, do, be · **To what, where:** thieves, power, many strange things, reply · **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 (I), 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:pg75089:16:14
# text = “I can catch thieves and have power to do many strange things,” was the reply; “and the only trouble with me is that I walk slowly.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	nsubj	_	_
5	thieves	thief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
8	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl	_	_
11	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
12	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	reply	reply	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
20	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	parataxis	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nmod	_	_
27	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
29	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	walk	walk	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	parataxis	_	_
31	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** *in a quote* | can | I | thieves |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thief=Theme |
| 2 | **have** *in a quote* | present | I *not said here* | power |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent power=Patient |
| 3 | **do** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | many strange things |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |
| 4 | **be** *speech: assert* | past |  | the reply |  |  |  | the only trouble with me *parataxis* | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | I |  |  |  |  | slowly, walk *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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