---
title: Together they talked on the surface of many questions, Nien Chi, in… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Together they talked on the surface of many questions, Nien Chi, in a most subtle manner, praising the wisdom and great insight of his host. Who acts: pomp. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 49

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Together they talked on the surface of many questions, Nien Chi, in a most subtle manner, praising the wisdom and great insight of his host.

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**Who acts:** pomp · **What happens:** talk, praise · **To what, where:** surface, wisdom

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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 (pomp), 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:pg75089:17:49
# text = Together they talked on the surface of many questions, Nien Chi, in a most subtle manner, praising the wisdom and great insight of his host.
1	Together	together	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	talked	talk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	Nien	Nien	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
12	Chi	Chi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
16	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	17	advmod	_	_
17	subtle	subtle	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	praising	praise	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	insight	insight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	conj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	host	host	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | past | pomp |  |  | the surface of many questions  Nien |  | in a subtle manner; together *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **praise** | gerund | pomp *not said here* | the wisdom and great insight of Nien's host |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wisdom=Theme |

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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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