--- title: They had a terrible time getting to the other side, and as the book… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics description: They had a terrible time getting to the other side, and as the book was paper all they could rescue of it were the words, “Ah-me t’on Fo,” and this they told the Emperor was all there was to the Classic. Who acts: vanity, terrible time, book, paper. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/16/157/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Gleanings from Chinese folklore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/) / [T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhi…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/16/) / 157 # Gleanings from Chinese folklore, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics, sentence 157 They had a terrible time getting to the other side, and as the book was paper all they could rescue of it were the words, “Ah-me t’on Fo,” and this they told the Emperor was all there was to the Classic. **Who acts:** vanity, terrible time, book, paper, this, Emperor · **What happens:** have, get, be, rescue, tell · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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, terrible time, book, paper), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg75089:16:157 # text = They had a terrible time getting to the other side, and as the book was paper all they could rescue of it were the words, “Ah-me t’on Fo,” and this they told the Emperor was all there was to the Classic. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 4 terrible terrible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ _ 6 getting get VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 5 acl _ _ 7 to to ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 9 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 side side NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 13 as as ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 book book NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ _ 16 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 cop _ _ 17 paper paper NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nsubj _ _ 18 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 17 det _ _ 19 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 20 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 21 rescue rescue VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 parataxis _ _ 22 of of ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 23 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 24 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 cop _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 28 “ " PUNCT `` _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 29 Ah ah INTJ UH _ 31 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 30 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 31 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 21 parataxis _ _ 32 t’on t'on NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 nmod:desc _ _ 33 Fo Fo PROPN NNP Number=Sing 31 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 35 ” " PUNCT '' _ 21 punct _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 37 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 39 nsubj _ _ 38 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 39 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 Emperor Emperor PROPN NNP Number=Sing 48 nsubj _ _ 42 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 45 cop _ _ 43 all all ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ _ 44 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 45 expl _ _ 45 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 48 cop _ _ 46 to to ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 47 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 Classic Classic PROPN NNP Number=Sing 39 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **have** | past | vanity | | | | time | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **get** | gerund | a terrible time *not said here* | | | | | to the other side *result* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to side=Result | | 3 | **is** | past | the book | | | | | as all paper | tree rules | | 4 | **rescue** | could | all paper | | | | | vanity *nsubj*; me *parataxis* | tree rules | | 5 | **is** | past | paper | | | | | of the words | tree rules | | 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | this | | | | | vanity *nsubj* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **is** | past | the Emperor | | | | | to the Classic | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 156](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/16/156/) - next →: [A Story of Old China, part 1, 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/17/1/) - ↑ back to [T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/16/)