---
title: You are older than I, so according to our custom it would be proper… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: You are older than I, so according to our custom it would be proper for you to introduce me to your wife, my sister, if indeed you will stoop to accept so stupid a man as a brother.” Who acts: You, custom. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China,
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/17/52/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Gleanings from Chinese folklore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/) / [A Story of Old China, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/17/) / 52

# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 52

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You are older than I, so according to our custom it would be proper for you to introduce me to your wife, my sister, if indeed you will stoop to accept so stupid a man as a brother.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** You, custom · **What happens:** be, accord, introduce, stoop, accept · **To what, where:** me, stupid man

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (You, custom), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75089:17:52
# text = You are older than I, so according to our custom it would be proper for you to introduce me to your wife, my sister, if indeed you will stoop to accept so stupid a man as a brother.”
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
8	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	case	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	fixed	_	_
10	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	cop	_	_
15	proper	proper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
16	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	introduce	introduce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
20	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
29	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
30	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	stoop	stoop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	accept	accept	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
35	so	so	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	stupid	stupid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
39	as	as	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | You |  |  |  |  | than I; old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | would | custom |  |  |  |  | accord our custom; proper *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **introduce** | to-infinitive | you | me |  |  |  | to your wife and my sister | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent i=Patient to wife=Co-Patient |
| 5 | **stoop** *a condition, not said to happen* | future | you |  |  |  |  | indeed *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **accept** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | a stupid man |  |  |  | as a brother | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent man=Theme as brother=Attribute |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/17/51/)
- next →: [sentence 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/17/53/)
- ↑ back to [A Story of Old China, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/17/)