---
title: The news was made known to the wife by a Mr. Wang, an old-time frien… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: The news was made known to the wife by a Mr. Wang, an old-time friend of the family, and he arranged with her a plan by which she might have a parting visit with her husband; this was to be in a cemetery just out of Peking and off a little from the great road over which his cart was to go. Who acts:
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 79

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The news was made known to the wife by a Mr. Wang, an old-time friend of the family, and he arranged with her a plan by which she might have a parting visit with her husband; this was to be in a cemetery just out of Peking and off a little from the great road over which his cart was to go.

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**Who acts:** news, banishment, friend, this, cart · **What happens:** make, know, arrange, have, be · **To what, where:** news, plan, parting visit, cemetery, great road

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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 (news, banishment, friend, this), 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:pg75089:17:79
# text = The news was made known to the wife by a Mr. Wang, an old-time friend of the family, and he arranged with her a plan by which she might have a parting visit with her husband; this was to be in a cemetery just out of Peking and off a little from the great road over which his cart was to go.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	xcomp	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod:desc	_	_
12	Wang	Wang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
15	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	appos	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	arranged	arrange	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
30	by	by	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	34	obl	_	_
32	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	acl:relcl	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	parting	parting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	_
37	visit	visit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
38	with	with	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
42	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	48	nsubj	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	cop	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	48	mark	_	_
45	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	cop	_	_
46	in	in	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	cemetery	cemetery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
49	just	just	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
50	out	out	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	Peking	Peking	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	48	appos	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
54	off	off	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	conj	_	_
57	from	from	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
59	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
60	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	nmod	_	_
61	over	over	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
62	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	67	obl	_	_
63	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	64	nmod:poss	_	_
64	cart	cart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	67	nsubj	_	_
65	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	67	cop	_	_
66	to	to	PART	TO	_	67	mark	_	_
67	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	60	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past · passive |  | the news |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | participle | the news *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the wife; by a Wang  Mr. | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **arrange** | past | banishment | a plan |  |  |  | with friend | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent plan=Patient with she=Instrument |
| 4 | **have** | might | friend | a parting visit |  |  |  | by a plan; with friend's husband | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent visit=Patient |
| 5 | **is** | past | this |  |  | a cemetery |  | Peking *appos* | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** | past | banishment's cart |  |  | the great road |  | go *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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