---
title: The monkey asked the priest where he was going, and on being told, d… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: The monkey asked the priest where he was going, and on being told, decided that he would go along with the good priest! Who acts: monkey. 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 pragm
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics, sentence 4

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The monkey asked the priest where he was going, and on being told, decided that he would go along with the good priest!

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**Who acts:** monkey · **What happens:** ask, go, tell, decide, go along · **To what, where:** priest · **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 (monkey), 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:pg75089:16:4
# text = The monkey asked the priest where he was going, and on being told, decided that he would go along with the good priest!
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	monkey	monkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	9	advmod	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
12	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
16	decided	decide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	ccomp	_	_
21	along	along	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	3	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 | the monkey | the priest |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent priest=Recipient |
| 2 | **go** | past · progressive | monkey |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V» |
| 4 | **decide** | past | the monkey *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **go along** | would | monkey |  |  |  |  | with the good priest; along *property* | vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent with priest=Beneficiary |

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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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