---
title: In many cases the parents could not understand English, but, as the… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: In many cases the parents could not understand English, but, as the children practically lived on the streets and so picked up its language, they understood us when we asked them to come and to bring others with them. Who acts: parents, children, we. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» b
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Nellie N. Russell, sentence 42

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In many cases the parents could not understand English, but, as the children practically lived on the streets and so picked up its language, they understood us when we asked them to come and to bring others with them.

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**Who acts:** parents, children, we · **What happens:** not understand, live, pick up, understand, ask, come · **To what, where:** English, many cases, streets, language, us, children

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Nellie N. Russell. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (parents, children, we), 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:pg75089:3:42
# text = In many cases the parents could not understand English, but, as the children practically lived on the streets and so picked up its language, they understood us when we asked them to come and to bring others with them.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	cases	case	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	as	as	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
16	practically	practically	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	streets	street	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	picked	pick	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
24	up	up	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	_
25	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	understood	understand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
30	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	33	advmod	_	_
32	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	_
34	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	conj	_	_
40	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obj	_	_
41	with	with	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **understand** | could | the parents | English |  | many cases |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer english=Stimulus |
| 2 | **live** | past | the children |  |  | the streets |  | practically *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on street=Location |
| 3 | **pick up** | participle | the parents *not said here* | street's language |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent language=Topic |
| 4 | **understand** | past | children *= child* | us |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer we=Stimulus |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | we |  | children *= child* |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **come** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **bring** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | others |  |  |  | with children *= child* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent other=Theme |

<!-- .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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