--- title: The boy sought their protection, told his story, and before he was t… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics description: The boy sought their protection, told his story, and before he was through, he was in the arms of one of the men, who proved to be the friend, Mr. Wang, who had taken his father to the place of banishment. Who acts: boy, men, friend. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Ru --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/18/69/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Gleanings from Chinese folklore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/) / [A Story of Old China, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/18/) / 69 # Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 2, sentence 69 The boy sought their protection, told his story, and before he was through, he was in the arms of one of the men, who proved to be the friend, Mr. Wang, who had taken his father to the place of banishment. **Who acts:** boy, men, friend · **What happens:** seek, tell, be, prove, take, protect · **To what, where:** protection, story, arms, friend, father, place · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (boy, men, friend), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg75089:18:69 # text = The boy sought their protection, told his story, and before he was through, he was in the arms of one of the men, who proved to be the friend, Mr. Wang, who had taken his father to the place of banishment. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 sought seek VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 5 nmod:poss _ _ 5 protection protection NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 7 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 8 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 9 nmod:poss _ _ 9 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 12 before before SCONJ IN _ 15 mark _ _ 13 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 14 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 cop _ _ 15 through through ADV RB _ 21 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 17 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 18 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 cop _ _ 19 in in ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 arms arm NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 obl _ _ 22 of of ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 23 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 21 nmod _ _ 24 of of ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 28 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 29 nsubj _ _ 29 proved prove VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 acl:relcl _ _ 30 to to PART TO _ 33 mark _ _ 31 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 33 cop _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 friend friend NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 35 Mr. Mr. PROPN NNP Number=Sing 36 nmod:desc _ _ 36 Wang Wang PROPN NNP Number=Sing 33 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 38 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 40 nsubj _ _ 39 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ _ 40 taken take VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 33 acl _ _ 41 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 42 nmod:poss _ _ 42 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obj _ _ 43 to to ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 place place NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ _ 46 of of ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 47 banishment banishment NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **seek** | past | the boy | men's protection | | | | | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent protection=Theme | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the boy *not said here* | boy's story | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent story=Recipient | | 3 | **is** | past | boy | | | | | through *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **is** | past | boy | | | the arms | | of one of the men | tree rules | | 5 | **prove** | past | the men | | | | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **is a** | to-infinitive | the men *not said here* | the friend | | | | Wang Mr. *appos* | tree rules | | 7 | **take** | past · perfect | the friend | boy's father | | the place of banishment | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent father=Theme to place=Destination | | 8 | **protect** | | men *= man* | | | | | | nom protection «act transitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/18/68/) - next →: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/18/70/) - ↑ back to [A Story of Old China, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/18/)