---
title: The king asked them where they were going and also demanded a proof… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: The king asked them where they were going and also demanded a proof of their Imperial mission. Who acts: king, lives. 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 pragmatics of every claus
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/16/71/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / 71

# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics, sentence 71

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The king asked them where they were going and also demanded a proof of their Imperial mission.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** king, lives · **What happens:** ask, go, demand, proof · **To what, where:** lives, proof, Imperial mission

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (king, lives), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75089:16:71
# text = The king asked them where they were going and also demanded a proof of their Imperial mission.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	8	advmod	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	also	also	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	demanded	demand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	proof	proof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
16	Imperial	imperial	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	mission	mission	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the king |  | lives *= life* |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 2 | **go** | past · progressive | lives *= life* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **demand** *speech: request* | past | the king *not said here* | a proof of lives's Imperial mission |  |  |  |  | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme proof=Precondition |
| 4 | **proof** |  |  | lives's Imperial mission |  |  |  |  | nom proof «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/16/70/)
- next →: [sentence 72](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/16/72/)
- ↑ back to [T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/16/)