---
title: As the sages truly say, “The son, though he goes thousands of miles… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: As the sages truly say, “The son, though he goes thousands of miles from home, never leaves his mother’s heart; the son, though separated from his mother years, never forgets her, but carries her in his heart.” Who acts: son. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 4, sentence 132

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As the sages truly say, “The son, though he goes thousands of miles from home, never leaves his mother’s heart; the son, though separated from his mother years, never forgets her, but carries her in his heart.”

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**Who acts:** son · **What happens:** say, go, not leave, separate, not forget, carry · **To what, where:** thousands, home, heart, sage · **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 (son), 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:pg75089:20:132
# text = As the sages truly say, “The son, though he goes thousands of miles from home, never leaves his mother’s heart; the son, though separated from his mother years, never forgets her, but carries her in his heart.”
1	As	as	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	sages	sage	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
4	truly	truly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	goes	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
14	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	miles	mile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
17	from	from	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	leaves	leave	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	’s	's	PART	POS	_	23	case	_	_
25	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	28	punct	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
31	separated	separate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	parataxis	_	_
32	from	from	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
34	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	_
35	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	38	advmod	_	_
38	forgets	forget	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
39	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	carries	carry	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	conj	_	_
43	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	obj	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	31	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present |  |  |  |  |  | as the sages; the son *ccomp*; truly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go** *in a quote* | present | son | thousands of miles |  | home |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **leave** *in a quote* | present | son *not said here* | son's mother's heart |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heart=Theme |
| 4 | **separate** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  | year |  | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **not** **forget** *in a quote* | present |  | sage |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **carry** *in a quote* | present |  | sage |  | son's heart |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent she=Value in heart=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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