---
title: They got on his back and when half-way over he asked if they had fou… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: They got on his back and when half-way over he asked if they had found the “Book” and seen the “great Buddha.” Who acts: vanity, turtle. 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 pragma
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics, sentence 154

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They got on his back and when half-way over he asked if they had found the “Book” and seen the “great Buddha.”

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**Who acts:** vanity, turtle · **What happens:** get, ask, find, see · **To what, where:** back, Book, great Buddha

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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 (vanity, turtle), 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:pg75089:16:154
# text = They got on his back and when half-way over he asked if they had found the “Book” and seen the “great Buddha.”
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
8	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	10	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
11	over	over	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
14	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	ccomp	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	Book	Book	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	20	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	conj	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
25	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	Buddha	Buddha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | vanity |  |  | turtle's back and half way |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent on back=Source |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | turtle |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **find** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | vanity | the Book |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent book=Topic |
| 4 | **see** | participle | vanity *not said here* | the great Buddha |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer buddha=Stimulus |

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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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