---
title: Little he knew the true-hearted woman, or how she would prove her fi… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Little he knew the true-hearted woman, or how she would prove her fidelity, that would hand her name down to all coming wives as the pattern of all that is most truly virtuous. Who acts: Wang, woman, that. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China,
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 83

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Little he knew the true-hearted woman, or how she would prove her fidelity, that would hand her name down to all coming wives as the pattern of all that is most truly virtuous.

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**Who acts:** Wang, woman, that · **What happens:** know, prove, hand down, come, be, name · **To what, where:** Little, fidelity, name, coming wives

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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 (Wang, woman, that), 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:pg75089:17:83
# text = Little he knew the true-hearted woman, or how she would prove her fidelity, that would hand her name down to all coming wives as the pattern of all that is most truly virtuous.
1	Little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	obl	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
5	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	hearted	hearted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	prove	prove	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
15	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	fidelity	fidelity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	nsubj	_	_
19	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	hand	hand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	parataxis	_	_
21	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	down	down	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	27	det	_	_
26	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	amod	_	_
27	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	_
28	as	as	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	pattern	pattern	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	30	nmod	_	_
33	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	37	nsubj	_	_
34	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
35	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	37	advmod	_	_
36	truly	truly	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	virtuous	virtuous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | Wang | Little |  |  |  | the true hearted woman *obj* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer woman=Stimulus |
| 2 | **prove** | would | woman | woman's fidelity |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fidelity=Theme |
| 3 | **hand down** | would | that | woman's name | all coming wives |  |  | down *property* | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent name=Theme to wife=Destination |
| 4 | **come** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | present | that |  |  |  |  | as the pattern of all; truly, virtuous *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **name** |  | woman |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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