---
title: A few days later he was secretly beheaded and his body was placed in… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: A few days later he was secretly beheaded and his body was placed in a temple near one of the city gates. 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 of every clause.
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 18

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A few days later he was secretly beheaded and his body was placed in a temple near one of the city gates.

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**What happens:** behead, place · **To what, where:** punishment, body, temple

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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: 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:pg75089:17:18
# text = A few days later he was secretly beheaded and his body was placed in a temple near one of the city gates.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	8	advmod	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
7	secretly	secretly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	beheaded	behead	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	temple	temple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	near	near	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	_
22	gates	gate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **behead** | past · passive |  | punishment |  |  |  | late, secretly *property* | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **place** | past · passive |  | punishment's body |  | a temple |  | near one of the city gates | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in temple=Destination |

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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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