---
title: The latter part of the call Nien Chi said, “Shall we not seal our fr… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: The latter part of the call Nien Chi said, “Shall we not seal our friendship by the rite of blood brother? Who acts: latter part, we. 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 51

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The latter part of the call Nien Chi said, “Shall we not seal our friendship by the rite of blood brother?

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**Who acts:** latter part, we · **What happens:** say, not seal · **To what, where:** friendship · **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 (latter part, we), 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:pg75089:17:51
# text = The latter part of the call Nien Chi said, “Shall we not seal our friendship by the rite of blood brother?
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	latter	latter	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	call	call	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	Nien	Nien	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	Chi	Chi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	flat	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	Shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
13	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	seal	seal	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
16	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	friendship	friendship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	by	by	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	rite	rite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	_
23	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | the latter part of the call |  |  |  |  | Nien *nsubj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **seal** *in a quote* | shall | we | our friendship |  |  |  | by the rite of blood brother | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friendship=Patient |

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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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