---
title: Then the father called Ting Lang to prostrate himself before his gra… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the father called Ting Lang to prostrate himself before his grandparents, which he did, knocking his head to each three times. Who acts: father. 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 
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 3, sentence 119

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Then the father called Ting Lang to prostrate himself before his grandparents, which he did, knocking his head to each three times.

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**Who acts:** father · **What happens:** call, prostrate, do, knock · **To what, where:** father, grandparents, head · **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 (father), 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:pg75089:19:119
# text = Then the father called Ting Lang to prostrate himself before his grandparents, which he did, knocking his head to each three times.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	Ting	Ting	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	xcomp	_	_
6	Lang	Lang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	flat	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	prostrate	prostrate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
9	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	8	obj	_	_
10	before	before	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	grandparents	grandparent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	obj	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	knocking	knock	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	24	det	_	_
23	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	24	nummod	_	_
24	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | participle | the father |  |  |  | then | Ting *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **prostrate** | to-infinitive | the father *not said here* | father |  |  | before father's grandparents |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **do** | past | father | father's grandparents |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Eventuality |
| 4 | **knock** | gerund | father *not said here* | father's head |  |  | time |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent head=Patient |

<!-- .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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