---
title: “My mother gave them to me, the other half of each my father has and… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: “My mother gave them to me, the other half of each my father has and he was to know me by these.” Who acts: mother, other half, half. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 2, sentence 118

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“My mother gave them to me, the other half of each my father has and he was to know me by these.”

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**Who acts:** mother, other half, half · **What happens:** give, have, know · **To what, where:** men, Ting

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mother, other half, half), 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:pg75089:18:118
# text = “My mother gave them to me, the other half of each my father has and he was to know me by these.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	16	nsubj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	det	_	_
14	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
16	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
22	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** *in a quote* | past | My mother |  | men *= man* |  |  | to Ting | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Theme to i=Recipient |
| 2 | **have** *in a quote* | present | the other half of my father |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **know** *in a quote* | past | half | Ting |  |  |  | by these | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer i=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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