---
title: We will call the best teacher in the land and the boys shall study t… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: We will call the best teacher in the land and the boys shall study together;” then again he put his hand on Ting Lang’s shoulder and said: Who acts: We, boys, boy. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 3, with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 3, sentence 123

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We will call the best teacher in the land and the boys shall study together;” then again he put his hand on Ting Lang’s shoulder and said:

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**Who acts:** We, boys, boy · **What happens:** call, study, put, say · **To what, where:** best teacher, land, hand, shoulder · **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 (We, boys, boy), 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:pg75089:19:123
# text = We will call the best teacher in the land and the boys shall study together;” then again he put his hand on Ting Lang’s shoulder and said:
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	amod	_	_
6	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
13	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	study	study	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
15	together	together	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
18	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	_
19	again	again	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
25	Ting	Ting	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nmod:poss	_	_
26	Lang	Lang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	’s	's	PART	POS	_	25	case	_	_
28	shoulder	shoulder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** *speech: assert* | future | We |  | the best teacher | the land |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent teacher=Recipient |
| 2 | **study** | shall | the boys |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **put** *in a quote* | past | boy | boy's hand |  | Ting's shoulder | then; again |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent hand=Theme on shoulder=Destination |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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