---
title: Mr. Tu said that he had in his charge forty thousand pieces of silve… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Mr. Tu said that he had in his charge forty thousand pieces of silver; and caused the logs to be opened as proof, only to find to his dismay the silver gone and brick in its place. Who acts: Tu, silver. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, pa
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 16

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Mr. Tu said that he had in his charge forty thousand pieces of silver; and caused the logs to be opened as proof, only to find to his dismay the silver gone and brick in its place.

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**Who acts:** Tu, silver · **What happens:** say, have, cause, open, find, go · **To what, where:** charge, logs, dismay · **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 (Tu, silver), 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:pg75089:17:16
# text = Mr. Tu said that he had in his charge forty thousand pieces of silver; and caused the logs to be opened as proof, only to find to his dismay the silver gone and brick in its place.
1	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod:desc	_	_
2	Tu	Tu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	charge	charge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	forty	forty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	compound	_	_
11	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	caused	cause	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	logs	log	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	opened	open	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	advcl	_	_
23	as	as	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	proof	proof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	only	only	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	dismay	dismay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
34	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	31	acl:relcl	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	brick	brick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	conj	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Tu  Mr. |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **have** | past | Tu |  |  | Tu's charge  thousand pieces of silver |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **cause** | past |  | the logs |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition log=Patient |
| 4 | **open** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  | as proof | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V» |
| 5 | **find** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | to Tu's dismay and brick in silver's place | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **go** | participle | the silver | Tu's dismay and brick in silver's place *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location dismay=Theme |
| 7 | **charge** |  | Tu |  |  |  |  |  | nom charge «act transitive»: poss=agent |
| 8 | **dismay** |  | Tu |  |  |  |  |  | nom dismay «feeling transitive»: 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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