--- title: So Sun Hou said, “I will try first,” and immediately cut off his hea… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics description: So Sun Hou said, “I will try first,” and immediately cut off his head, upon which Minister Deer said, “I can only cut mine off once and I won’t do it now.” Who acts: Sun, Minister. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Class --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/16/87/) [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/) / 87 # Gleanings from Chinese folklore, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics, sentence 87 So Sun Hou said, “I will try first,” and immediately cut off his head, upon which Minister Deer said, “I can only cut mine off once and I won’t do it now.” **Who acts:** Sun, Minister · **What happens:** say, try, cut off, not do · **To what, where:** head, Minister · **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 (Sun, Minister), 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:pg75089:16:87 # text = So Sun Hou said, “I will try first,” and immediately cut off his head, upon which Minister Deer said, “I can only cut mine off once and I won’t do it now.” 1 So so ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 2 Sun Sun PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 3 Hou Hou PROPN NNP Number=Sing 2 flat _ _ 4 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 6 “ " PUNCT `` _ 9 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 8 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 9 aux _ _ 9 try try VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 ccomp _ _ 10 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 9 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 12 ” " PUNCT '' _ 9 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 14 immediately immediately ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 15 cut cut VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 9 parataxis _ _ 16 off off ADP RP _ 15 compound:prt _ _ 17 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 18 nmod:poss _ _ 18 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 20 upon upon ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 21 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 24 obl _ _ 22 Minister Minister PROPN NNP Number=Sing 24 nsubj _ _ 23 Deer Deer PROPN NNP Number=Sing 22 flat _ _ 24 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 26 “ " PUNCT `` _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 27 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 28 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 29 only only ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 30 cut cut VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 ccomp _ _ 31 mine my PRON PRP Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 obj _ _ 32 off off ADP RP _ 30 compound:prt _ _ 33 once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 30 advmod _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 35 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 36 wo will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 37 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 38 advmod _ _ 38 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 conj _ _ 39 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 obj _ _ 40 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 38 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 41 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 42 ” " PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Sun | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **try** *in a quote* | future | Sun | | | | | first *property* | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 3 | **cut off** | participle | | Sun's head | | | | immediately *property* | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality | | 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Minister | | | | | which *obl* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 5 | **cut off** *in a quote* | can | Minister | Minister | | | | once *property* | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector my=Eventuality | | 6 | **not** **do** *in a quote* | future | Minister | head | | | now | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality | 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 86](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/16/86/) - next →: [sentence 88](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/16/88/) - ↑ back to [T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/16/)