---
title: Little Ting Lang did not understand what he said, as his mother alwa… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Little Ting Lang did not understand what he said, as his mother always told him that his father was away on government business. Who acts: Little Ting, Ting, mother, father. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 2, with its dependency tre
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 2, sentence 14

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Little Ting Lang did not understand what he said, as his mother always told him that his father was away on government business.

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**Who acts:** Little Ting, Ting, mother, father · **What happens:** not understand, say, tell, be · **To what, where:** Ting, government business · **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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Little Ting, Ting, mother, father), 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:pg75089:18:14
# text = Little Ting Lang did not understand what he said, as his mother always told him that his father was away on government business.
1	Little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	Ting	Ting	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	Lang	Lang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	flat	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	obj	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	15	advmod	_	_
15	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
21	away	away	ADV	RB	_	15	ccomp	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	government	government	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	_
24	business	business	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **understand** | past · do-support | Little Ting |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Ting |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Ting's mother |  | Ting |  |  | always *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 4 | **is** | past | Ting's father |  |  | government business |  | away *property* | tree rules |

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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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