--- title: He said he had no words to praise her virtue, it was as high as Heav… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics description: He said he had no words to praise her virtue, it was as high as Heaven; told of the son’s finding him and how he was studying under a great teacher who pronounced him a remarkable scholar. Who acts: husband, words, virtue, great teacher. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naom --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/19/142/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Gleanings from Chinese folklore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/) / [A Story of Old China, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/19/) / 142 # Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 3, sentence 142 He said he had no words to praise her virtue, it was as high as Heaven; told of the son’s finding him and how he was studying under a great teacher who pronounced him a remarkable scholar. **Who acts:** husband, words, virtue, great teacher · **What happens:** say, have, praise, be, tell, find · **To what, where:** words, virtue, husband · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (husband, words, virtue, great teacher), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg75089:19:142 # text = He said he had no words to praise her virtue, it was as high as Heaven; told of the son’s finding him and how he was studying under a great teacher who pronounced him a remarkable scholar. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 4 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 ccomp _ _ 5 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 6 det _ _ 6 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obj _ _ 7 to to PART TO _ 8 mark _ _ 8 praise praise VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 xcomp _ _ 9 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 10 nmod:poss _ _ 10 virtue virtue NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 12 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 13 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 cop _ _ 14 as as ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 15 high high ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 2 conj _ _ 16 as as ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 Heaven Heaven PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 ; ; PUNCT : _ 19 punct _ _ 19 told tell VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 24 csubj:pass _ _ 20 of of ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ’s be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ _ 24 finding find VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 2 advcl _ _ 25 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obj _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 27 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 30 advmod _ _ 28 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 29 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 30 studying study VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 24 conj _ _ 31 under under ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 32 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 33 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ _ 34 teacher teacher NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ _ 35 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 36 nsubj _ _ 36 pronounced pronounce VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 acl:relcl _ _ 37 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 obj _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 39 remarkable remarkable ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 scholar scholar NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 41 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | husband | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **have** | past | husband | no words | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **praise** | to-infinitive | no words *not said here* | Yü's virtue | | | | | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent virtue=Theme | | 4 | **is** | past | virtue | | | | | as Heaven; high *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | participle | | | | | | of the son | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **find** | present · progressive | husband *not said here* | husband | | | | | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Topic | | 7 | **study** | past · progressive | husband | | | | | under a great teacher | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **pronounce** | past | a great teacher | husband | | | | a remarkable scholar *obj* | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme scholar=Result | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 141](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/19/141/) - next →: [sentence 143](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/19/143/) - ↑ back to [A Story of Old China, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/19/)