--- title: He told her he was twelve years old; had come from his home in the n… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics description: He told her he was twelve years old; had come from his home in the north to seek his father, and then he went on and told her how his mother fainted when he left her, and of his own sad and lonely journey. Who acts: boy, mother. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/19/26/) [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/) / 26 # Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 3, sentence 26 He told her he was twelve years old; had come from his home in the north to seek his father, and then he went on and told her how his mother fainted when he left her, and of his own sad and lonely journey. **Who acts:** boy, mother · **What happens:** tell, be, come, seek, go on, faint · **To what, where:** priest, home, father · **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 (boy, mother), 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:pg75089:19:26 # text = He told her he was twelve years old; had come from his home in the north to seek his father, and then he went on and told her how his mother fainted when he left her, and of his own sad and lonely journey. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 iobj _ _ 4 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 5 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 cop _ _ 6 twelve twelve NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 7 nummod _ _ 7 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 obl:unmarked _ _ 8 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 2 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 9 ; ; PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 10 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 aux _ _ 11 come come VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 2 parataxis _ _ 12 from from ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 14 nmod:poss _ _ 14 home home NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ _ 15 in in ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 north north NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ _ 18 to to PART TO _ 19 mark _ _ 19 seek seek VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 11 advcl _ _ 20 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 21 nmod:poss _ _ 21 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 24 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 26 advmod _ _ 25 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 26 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 27 on on ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 29 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 conj _ _ 30 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 iobj _ _ 31 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 34 advmod _ _ 32 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 33 nmod:poss _ _ 33 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nsubj _ _ 34 fainted faint VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 ccomp _ _ 35 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 37 advmod _ _ 36 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 37 left leave VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 advcl _ _ 38 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ _ 41 of of ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 42 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 47 nmod:poss _ _ 43 own own ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 amod _ _ 44 sad sad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 amod _ _ 45 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 46 lonely lonely ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 conj _ _ 47 journey journey NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | boy | | priest | | | boy's own sad journey *parataxis* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient | | 2 | **is** | past | boy | | | | year | old *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **come** | past · perfect | | | | boy's home | | in the north | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from home=Initial\_Location | | 4 | **seek** | to-infinitive | | boy's father | | | | | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent father=Theme | | 5 | **go on** | past | boy | | | | then | | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | boy *not said here* | | priest | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic | | 7 | **faint** | past | boy's mother | | | | | | vn change\_bodily\_state-40.8.4 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 8 | **leave** | past | boy | priest | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme | | 9 | **journey** | | boy | | | | | | nom journey «act transitive»: poss=agent | 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 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/19/25/) - next →: [sentence 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/19/27/) - ↑ back to [A Story of Old China, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/19/)