--- title: “For literary men, men of high degree, to do such a thing means, can… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics description: “For literary men, men of high degree, to do such a thing means, can but mean, that they have a good clear reason, otherwise they would not act like beasts,” so he waited, and was waiting when Yen Sung rushed in. Who acts: men, degrees, Man, Yen. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Ne --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/79/) [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 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/) / 79 # Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 4, sentence 79 “For literary men, men of high degree, to do such a thing means, can but mean, that they have a good clear reason, otherwise they would not act like beasts,” so he waited, and was waiting when Yen Sung rushed in. **Who acts:** men, degrees, Man, Yen · **What happens:** do, mean, have, not act, wait, rush in · **To what, where:** thing, good clear reason · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (men, degrees, Man, Yen), 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:pg75089:20:79 # text = “For literary men, men of high degree, to do such a thing means, can but mean, that they have a good clear reason, otherwise they would not act like beasts,” so he waited, and was waiting when Yen Sung rushed in. 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 For for ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 3 literary literary ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 4 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 6 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 nsubj _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 high high ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 degree degree NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 11 to to PART TO _ 12 mark _ _ 12 do do VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 16 nsubj _ _ 13 such such DET PDT PronType=Ind 15 det:predet _ _ 14 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ _ 16 means mean VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 18 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 20 aux _ _ 19 but but CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 20 mean mean VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 22 that that SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 23 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 have have VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 41 ccomp _ _ 25 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 26 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 amod _ _ 27 clear clear ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 amod _ _ 28 reason reason NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 30 otherwise otherwise ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ _ 31 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 32 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 33 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 34 advmod _ _ 34 act act VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 28 parataxis _ _ 35 like like ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 36 beasts beast NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 38 ” " PUNCT '' _ 24 punct _ _ 39 so so ADV RB _ 41 advmod _ _ 40 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 41 waited wait VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 43 and and CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 44 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 45 waiting wait VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 41 advcl _ _ 46 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 49 advmod _ _ 47 Yen Yen PROPN NNP Number=Sing 49 nsubj _ _ 48 Sung Sung PROPN NNP Number=Sing 47 flat _ _ 49 rushed rush VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 45 advcl _ _ 50 in in ADV RB _ 49 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 16 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **do** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | | such thing | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality | | 2 | **mean** *in a quote* | present | men for literary men of high degree | | | | | | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **mean** *in a quote* | can | | | | | | | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **have** *in a quote* | present | degrees *= degree* | a good clear reason | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Patient | | 5 | **not** **act** *in a quote* | would | degrees *= degree* | | | | | like beasts; otherwise *property* | vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent like beast=Attribute | | 6 | **wait** | past | Man | | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **wait** | past · progressive | Man *not said here* | | | | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **rush in** | past | Yen | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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 78](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/78/) - next →: [sentence 80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/80/) - ↑ back to [A Story of Old China, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/)