---
title: “Have you any proof of your father?” was the next question. — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: “Have you any proof of your father?” was the next question. Who acts: you. 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 every clause.
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 3, sentence 37

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“Have you any proof of your father?” was the next question.

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**Who acts:** you · **What happens:** have, be, proof · **To what, where:** proof, next question, father · **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 (you), 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:pg75089:19:37
# text = “Have you any proof of your father?” was the next question.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	csubj	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
4	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	det	_	_
5	proof	proof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** *in a quote* | present | you | any proof of your father |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent proof=Patient |
| 2 | **be** *speech: other* | past |  | the next question |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **proof** *in a quote* |  |  | your father |  |  |  |  | nom proof «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

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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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