---
title: He asked the errand of the strange company, and after hearing the st… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: He asked the errand of the strange company, and after hearing the story, said he also would go and T’ang Sung might ride him. Who acts: monk, T’ang. 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 an
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics, sentence 17

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He asked the errand of the strange company, and after hearing the story, said he also would go and T’ang Sung might ride him.

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**Who acts:** monk, T’ang · **What happens:** ask, hear, say, go, ride · **To what, where:** errand, story, monk · **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 (monk, T’ang), 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:pg75089:16:17
# text = He asked the errand of the strange company, and after hearing the story, said he also would go and T’ang Sung might ride him.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	errand	errand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
11	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	hearing	hear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
16	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	also	also	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
19	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	ccomp	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	T’ang	T'ang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
23	Sung	Sung	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	flat	_	_
24	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	ride	ride	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	conj	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | monk | the errand of the strange company |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent errand=Recipient |
| 2 | **hear** | gerund |  | the story |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer story=Stimulus |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **go** | would | monk |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **ride** | might | T’ang | monk |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |

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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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