---
title: As she closed the letter she said, “Thanks to the gods who took my c… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: As she closed the letter she said, “Thanks to the gods who took my child in safety. Who acts: she, gods. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 4, sentence 1

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As she closed the letter she said, “Thanks to the gods who took my child in safety.

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**Who acts:** she, gods · **What happens:** close, say, take · **To what, where:** letter, child, safety · **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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (she, gods), 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:pg75089:20:1
# text = As she closed the letter she said, “Thanks to the gods who took my child in safety.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	closed	close	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	Thanks	thanks	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	ccomp	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
14	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
15	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
16	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	safety	safety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **close** | past | she | the letter |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent letter=Patient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | she |  |  |  |  | Thanks to the gods *ccomp* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **take** *in a quote* | past | the gods | my child |  | safety |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent child=Value in safety=Location |

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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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