---
title: If I were homely no one would want me; see, this I do to show how tr… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: If I were homely no one would want me; see, this I do to show how true is my heart to you,” and before he saw what she was about she took some scissors from her sleeve and dug out one of her beautiful eyes, and then, raising her poor disfigured face to his, she said, as she tried to smile, “Do you b
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 99

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If I were homely no one would want me; see, this I do to show how true is my heart to you,” and before he saw what she was about she took some scissors from her sleeve and dug out one of her beautiful eyes, and then, raising her poor disfigured face to his, she said, as she tried to smile, “Do you believe me, is it not proof enough?

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**Who acts:** I, promise, use, you, face · **What happens:** be, see, do, show, dig out, raise · **To what, where:** you, true heart, sleeve, one, poor disfigured face, me · **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 (I, promise, use, you), 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:pg75089:17:99
# text = If I were homely no one would want me; see, this I do to show how true is my heart to you,” and before he saw what she was about she took some scissors from her sleeve and dug out one of her beautiful eyes, and then, raising her poor disfigured face to his, she said, as she tried to smile, “Do you believe me, is it not proof enough?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
4	homely	homely	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
9	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
13	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	obj	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	parataxis	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
18	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
19	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
20	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
31	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	30	obj	_	_
32	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
34	about	about	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
35	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	acl:relcl	_	_
37	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	38	det	_	_
38	scissors	scissors	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obj	_	_
39	from	from	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	sleeve	sleeve	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	dug	dig	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	conj	_	_
44	out	out	ADP	RP	_	43	compound:prt	_	_
45	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	43	obj	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
48	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
52	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	54	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
54	raising	raise	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	30	advcl	_	_
55	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
56	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
57	disfigured	disfigure	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	58	amod	_	_
58	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obj	_	_
59	to	to	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	63	punct	_	_
62	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	63	nsubj	_	_
63	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	67	punct	_	_
65	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	67	mark	_	_
66	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	67	nsubj	_	_
67	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	63	ccomp	_	_
68	to	to	PART	TO	_	69	mark	_	_
69	smile	smile	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	67	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	74	punct	_	_
71	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	74	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	Do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	74	aux	_	_
73	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	74	nsubj	_	_
74	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	69	advcl	_	_
75	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	74	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
76	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	80	punct	_	_
77	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	80	cop	_	_
78	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	80	nsubj	_	_
79	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	80	advmod	_	_
80	proof	proof	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	conj	_	_
81	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	80	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
82	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	30	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | would · past | I |  |  |  |  | no one *nsubj*; me *obj*; this *obj*; homely, want *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **do** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **show** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent to you=Recipient |
| 5 | **is a** | present |  | my true heart |  |  |  | my *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 6 | **see** *in a quote* | past | promise |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | tree rules |
| 7 | **is** *in a quote* | past | use |  |  | use's sleeve |  | some scissors *obj*; about, take *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **dig out** *in a quote* | past | use *not said here* | one of use's beautiful eyes |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent one=Theme |
| 9 | **raise** *in a quote* | gerund | promise *not said here* | use's poor disfigured face |  |  | then | promise *obj* | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Agent face=Theme his=Destination |
| 10 | **disfigure** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 11 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | use |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 12 | **try** *in a quote* | past | use |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 13 | **smile** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | use *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 14 | **believe** | present · do-support | you |  | me |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer i=Stimulus |
| 15 | **not** **is** | present | face |  |  |  |  | enough, proof *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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