---
title: Two thousand years ago, in the time of the Han dynasty, there lived… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Two thousand years ago, in the time of the Han dynasty, there lived in China a man by the name of Chun Yü I. He was a small official and, because of some offence by which he had angered his superior, he was sentenced to have his feet cut off. Who acts: I., feet. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Daughter of the Orient, sentence 1

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Two thousand years ago, in the time of the Han dynasty, there lived in China a man by the name of Chun Yü I. He was a small official and, because of some offence by which he had angered his superior, he was sentenced to have his feet cut off.

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**Who acts:** I., feet · **What happens:** live, be, anger, sentence, have, cut off · **To what, where:** man, China, small official, offence, I., feet

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Daughter of the Orient. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I., feet), 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:pg75089:7:1
# text = Two thousand years ago, in the time of the Han dynasty, there lived in China a man by the name of Chun Yü I. He was a small official and, because of some offence by which he had angered his superior, he was sentenced to have his feet cut off.
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	compound	_	_
2	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	Han	Han	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	dynasty	dynasty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
14	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	15	expl	_	_
15	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	Chun	Chun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
25	Yü	Yü	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	I.	I.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
27	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	official	official	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	parataxis	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
34	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	fixed	_	_
36	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	37	det	_	_
37	offence	offence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj:pass	_	_
38	by	by	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	42	obl	_	_
40	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	angered	anger	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	48	advcl	_	_
43	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	superior	superior	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	aux:pass	_	_
48	sentenced	sentence	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	conj	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	xcomp	_	_
51	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
52	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obj	_	_
53	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	50	xcomp	_	_
54	off	off	ADP	RP	_	53	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | past |  | a man |  | China; there | time | by the name of Chun Yü I.; ago *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in china=Location |
| 2 | **is a** | past | I. | a small official |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **anger** | past · perfect · passive |  | some offence |  |  |  | which *obl*; I. *nsubj* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 4 | **sentence** | past · passive |  | I. |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **have** | to-infinitive |  | I.'s feet |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **cut off** | participle | I.'s feet *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 7 | **name** |  |  | Chun Yü I. |  |  |  |  | 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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