---
title: He taught the boy some songs and helped him put his own life-story i… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: He taught the boy some songs and helped him put his own life-story into rhyme, and one day said, “I want you to sing for the ‘foundation beaters,’ who are preparing the ground for a beautiful pavilion in a flower garden belonging to a rich man. Who acts: boy, one day, you, flower garden. A sentence 
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 3, sentence 10

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He taught the boy some songs and helped him put his own life-story into rhyme, and one day said, “I want you to sing for the ‘foundation beaters,’ who are preparing the ground for a beautiful pavilion in a flower garden belonging to a rich man.

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**Who acts:** boy, one day, you, flower garden · **What happens:** teach, help, put, say, want, sing · **To what, where:** songs, boy, own life story, rhyme, you, ground · **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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, one day, you, flower garden), 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:pg75089:19:10
# text = He taught the boy some songs and helped him put his own life-story into rhyme, and one day said, “I want you to sing for the ‘foundation beaters,’ who are preparing the ground for a beautiful pavilion in a flower garden belonging to a rich man.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	taught	teach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	songs	song	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	helped	help	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
12	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
13	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
16	into	into	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	rhyme	rhyme	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
21	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	ccomp	_	_
27	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
30	for	for	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
32	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	foundation	foundation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	_
34	beaters	beater	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	39	punct	_	_
37	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	39	nsubj	_	_
38	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	preparing	prepare	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	_
42	for	for	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	pavilion	pavilion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
46	in	in	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	flower	flower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	compound	_	_
49	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	_
50	belonging	belong	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	49	acl	_	_
51	to	to	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
52	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
53	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **teach** *speech: other* | past | boy | some songs | the boy |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent boy=Recipient song=Topic |
| 2 | **help** | past | boy *not said here* | boy |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary clause=Theme |
| 3 | **put** | infinitive | boy *not said here* | boy's own life story |  | rhyme |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent story=Goal |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | one day |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **want** *in a quote* | present | one day *= day* | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **sing** *speech: express* *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for the foundation beaters | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient S\_INF»: agent=Agent for beater=Recipient |
| 7 | **prepare** *in a quote* | present · progressive |  | the ground |  |  |  | for a beautiful pavilion in a flower garden; who *nsubj* | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent ground=Product for pavilion=Beneficiary |
| 8 | **belong** *in a quote* | gerund | a flower garden *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to a rich man | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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