---
title: His steward, Nien Chi, was tried at the same time, and was sentenced… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: His steward, Nien Chi, was tried at the same time, and was sentenced to be burned alive in the street,—“A fine lamp for one dark night.” A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/21/14/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/21/) / 14

# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 5, sentence 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His steward, Nien Chi, was tried at the same time, and was sentenced to be burned alive in the street,—“A fine lamp for one dark night.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**What happens:** try, sentence, burn · **To what, where:** steward, fine lamp, street

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg75089:21:14
# text = His steward, Nien Chi, was tried at the same time, and was sentenced to be burned alive in the street,—“A fine lamp for one dark night.”
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	steward	steward	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	Nien	Nien	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
5	Chi	Chi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	tried	try	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	sentenced	sentence	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	burned	burn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	xcomp	_	_
20	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	xcomp	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	street	street	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	lamp	lamp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
30	for	for	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	33	nummod	_	_
32	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past · passive |  | History's steward |  |  | time |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 2 | **sentence** | past · passive |  | a fine lamp for one dark night |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **burn** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  | the street |  | alive *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: in street=Location |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/21/13/)
- next →: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/21/15/)
- ↑ back to [A Story of Old China, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/21/)