---
title: On the boat were some wicked men who took his money and clothing, an… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: On the boat were some wicked men who took his money and clothing, and when they reached Lui Ching, sold him to a theatre man. Who acts: wicked men, men. 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 
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 2, sentence 67

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On the boat were some wicked men who took his money and clothing, and when they reached Lui Ching, sold him to a theatre man.

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**Who acts:** wicked men, men · **What happens:** be, take, reach, sell · **To what, where:** wicked men, boat, money, Lui Ching, boy, theatre man

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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 (wicked men, men), 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:pg75089:18:67
# text = On the boat were some wicked men who took his money and clothing, and when they reached Lui Ching, sold him to a theatre man.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
6	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	clothing	clothing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
16	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	18	mark	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	advcl	_	_
19	Lui	Lui	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	_
20	Ching	Ching	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
22	sold	sell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	theatre	theatre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	_
27	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | some wicked men |  | the boat |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | past | some wicked men | boy's money and clothing |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent money=Theme |
| 3 | **reach** | past | men *= man* | Lui Ching |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent ching=Theme |
| 4 | **sell** | past | some wicked men *not said here* | boy | a theatre man |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Theme to man=Recipient |

<!-- .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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