---
title: During these days in the city, Ting Lang had not dared to seek out h… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: During these days in the city, Ting Lang had not dared to seek out his mother, as he wanted first to expose their enemy; he came to the city under the name of Hu, and while Lady Yü had heard of the very wonderful young man, she did not dare to even hope that it might be her son; she asked no questio
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 4, sentence 113

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During these days in the city, Ting Lang had not dared to seek out his mother, as he wanted first to expose their enemy; he came to the city under the name of Hu, and while Lady Yü had heard of the very wonderful young man, she did not dare to even hope that it might be her son; she asked no questions and no one mentioned the downfall of Yen Sung.

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**Who acts:** Ting, Lady, city, one · **What happens:** not dare, not seek out, want, expose, come, hear · **To what, where:** Ting, mother, enemy, city, son, questions · **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 (Ting, Lady, city, one), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75089:20:113
# text = During these days in the city, Ting Lang had not dared to seek out his mother, as he wanted first to expose their enemy; he came to the city under the name of Hu, and while Lady Yü had heard of the very wonderful young man, she did not dare to even hope that it might be her son; she asked no questions and no one mentioned the downfall of Yen Sung.
1	During	during	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
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	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
8	Ting	Ting	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	Lang	Lang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	flat	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	dared	dare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	seek	seek	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	out	out	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
22	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	21	advmod	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	expose	expose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
25	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	enemy	enemy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	under	under	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	Hu	Hu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
40	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
41	Lady	Lady	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	_
42	Yü	Yü	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	flat	_	_
43	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
44	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	conj	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
47	very	very	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
48	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
49	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
52	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
53	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
54	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	55	advmod	_	_
55	dare	dare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	parataxis	_	_
56	to	to	PART	TO	_	58	mark	_	_
57	even	even	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
58	hope	hope	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	xcomp	_	_
59	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	64	mark	_	_
60	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	64	nsubj	_	_
61	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	64	aux	_	_
62	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	64	cop	_	_
63	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	64	nmod:poss	_	_
64	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	67	punct	_	_
66	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	67	nsubj	_	_
67	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
68	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	69	det	_	_
69	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	67	obj	_	_
70	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	73	cc	_	_
71	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	72	det	_	_
72	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	73	nsubj	_	_
73	mentioned	mention	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	67	conj	_	_
74	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	75	det	_	_
75	downfall	downfall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	73	obj	_	_
76	of	of	ADP	IN	_	78	case	_	_
77	Yen	Yen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	78	compound	_	_
78	Sung	Sung	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	75	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
79	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **dare** | past · perfect · passive |  | Ting |  |  | day |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **seek out** | to-infinitive |  | Ting's mother |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mother=Theme |
| 3 | **want** | past | Ting |  |  |  |  | first *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **expose** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Ting *not said here* | luxuries's enemy |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot enemy=Topic |
| 5 | **come** | past | Ting |  |  | the city under the name of Hu |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to city=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **hear** | past · perfect | Lady |  |  |  |  | of the wonderful young man | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer of man=Stimulus |
| 7 | **not** **dare** | past · do-support | Lady |  |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **not** **hope** | to-infinitive | Lady *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 9 | **is a** | might | city | Lady's son |  |  |  | Lady *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 10 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Lady | no questions |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent question=Recipient |
| 11 | **mention** *speech: other* | past | no one | the downfall of Yen Sung |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent downfall=Topic |
| 12 | **name** |  |  | Hu |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .note -->
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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