---
title: Their son-in-law came and, kneeling at his father’s feet, said, “Hon… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Their son-in-law came and, kneeling at his father’s feet, said, “Honoured and great father, I have sinned!” Who acts: son, I. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 3, sentence 102

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Their son-in-law came and, kneeling at his father’s feet, said, “Honoured and great father, I have sinned!”

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**Who acts:** son, I · **What happens:** come, kneel, say, honour, sin · **To what, where:** feet · **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 (son, I), 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:pg75089:19:102
# text = Their son-in-law came and, kneeling at his father’s feet, said, “Honoured and great father, I have sinned!”
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
7	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	kneeling	kneel	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	’s	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	Honoured	honour	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	ccomp	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	sinned	sin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	27	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | crying's son in law |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **kneel** | gerund | crying's son in law *not said here* |  |  | Son's father's feet |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at foot=Location |
| 3 | **say** *speech: express* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **honour** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  | great father *conj* | tree rules |
| 5 | **sin** *in a quote* | present · perfect | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn rebel-71.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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