---
title: The boy was in the city; people would know all and talk and it would… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: The boy was in the city; people would know all and talk and it would come to his father-in-law’s ears, yet he could not bring himself to tell him first. Who acts: boy, people, sight. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 3, with its depen
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 3, sentence 15

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The boy was in the city; people would know all and talk and it would come to his father-in-law’s ears, yet he could not bring himself to tell him first.

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**Who acts:** boy, people, sight · **What happens:** be, know, talk, come, not bring, tell · **To what, where:** city, all, boy · **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, people, sight), 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:pg75089:19:15
# text = The boy was in the city; people would know all and talk and it would come to his father-in-law’s ears, yet he could not bring himself to tell him first.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
11	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	obj	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	’s	's	PART	POS	_	24	case	_	_
26	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
30	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
32	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
33	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	32	obj	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	advcl	_	_
36	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	iobj	_	_
37	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	35	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the boy |  |  | the city |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | would | people | all |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer all=Stimulus |
| 3 | **talk** | infinitive | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **come** | would | sight |  |  |  |  | to boy's father and law's ears | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to father=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **not** **bring** | could | boy | boy |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent himself=Theme |
| 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | boy *not said here* |  | boy |  |  | first *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |

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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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