---
title: They then talked over their sorrows, and she said, “If in a few mont… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: They then talked over their sorrows, and she said, “If in a few months’ time the gods give us a son, what is your wish to name him? Who acts: gods, use. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 102

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They then talked over their sorrows, and she said, “If in a few months’ time the gods give us a son, what is your wish to name him?

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**Who acts:** gods, use · **What happens:** talk, say, give, be, name, sorrow · **To what, where:** sorrows, son, wish · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (gods, use), 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:pg75089:17:102
# text = They then talked over their sorrows, and she said, “If in a few months’ time the gods give us a son, what is your wish to name him?
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	talked	talk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	over	over	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	sorrows	sorrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	’	's	PART	POS	_	17	case	_	_
19	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
22	give	give	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	advcl	_	_
23	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	iobj	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
27	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	30	nsubj	_	_
28	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
29	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	wish	wish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	ccomp	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	name	name	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	acl	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | past | gods *= god* |  |  | gods's sorrows | then |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | use |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **give** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | the gods |  | a son |  | time | us *iobj* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent we=Recipient son=Theme |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | your wish |  |  |  | what *nsubj*; your *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 5 | **name** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | use *not said here* | son |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 6 | **sorrow** |  | gods *= god* |  |  |  |  |  | nom sorrow «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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.

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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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