---
title: I can buy your freedom at the magistrate’s here and if you are ready… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: I can buy your freedom at the magistrate’s here and if you are ready and willing we will receive you into our family. Who acts: I, you, we. 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 clau
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 2, sentence 98

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I can buy your freedom at the magistrate’s here and if you are ready and willing we will receive you into our family.

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**Who acts:** I, you, we · **What happens:** buy, be, receive · **To what, where:** freedom, you, family

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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 (I, you, we), 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:pg75089:18:98
# text = I can buy your freedom at the magistrate’s here and if you are ready and willing we will receive you into our family.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	buy	buy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	freedom	freedom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	magistrate	magistrate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	’s	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	obl	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	advcl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	willing	willing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	_
18	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	receive	receive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
21	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	into	into	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | can | I | your freedom |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent freedom=Theme at here=Asset |
| 2 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you |  |  |  |  | ready *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **receive** | future | we | you |  | our family |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Theme |

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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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