---
title: Then said the rich man, “For long years a terrible demon has lived i… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Then said the rich man, “For long years a terrible demon has lived in the river and every year we have to prepare a young boy and a young girl as an offering for him or he will destroy the village by causing the river to overflow. Who acts: rich man, terrible demon, we, man. A sentence of «Gleanings
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics, sentence 30

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Then said the rich man, “For long years a terrible demon has lived in the river and every year we have to prepare a young boy and a young girl as an offering for him or he will destroy the village by causing the river to overflow.

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**Who acts:** rich man, terrible demon, we, man · **What happens:** say, live, have, prepare, destroy, cause · **To what, where:** river, young boy, village · **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 (rich man, terrible demon, we, man), 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:pg75089:16:30
# text = Then said the rich man, “For long years a terrible demon has lived in the river and every year we have to prepare a young boy and a young girl as an offering for him or he will destroy the village by causing the river to overflow.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
7	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	For	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	demon	demon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	lived	live	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	21	det	_	_
21	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	_
22	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	prepare	prepare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	_
33	as	as	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	offering	offering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
36	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nmod	_	_
38	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
40	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	destroy	destroy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	village	village	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
44	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
45	causing	cause	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	41	advcl	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	_
48	to	to	PART	TO	_	49	mark	_	_
49	overflow	overflow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the rich man |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **live** *in a quote* | present · perfect | a terrible demon |  |  |  | year |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **have** *in a quote* | present | we |  |  | the river and every year |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **prepare** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | a young boy and a young girl |  |  |  | as a offering for man | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent boy=Theme as offering=Attribute |
| 5 | **destroy** *in a quote* | future | man | the village |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent village=Patient |
| 6 | **cause** *in a quote* | gerund | man *not said here* | the river |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition river=Patient |
| 7 | **overflow** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | the river *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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