---
title: The great Chinese sage, Confucius, had a son-in-law, Kung Yeh Chang,… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: The great Chinese sage, Confucius, had a son-in-law, Kung Yeh Chang, who understood better than any one before or since his day the habits of birds. Who acts: great Chinese sage, law. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow, with its de
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow, sentence 1

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The great Chinese sage, Confucius, had a son-in-law, Kung Yeh Chang, who understood better than any one before or since his day the habits of birds.

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**Who acts:** great Chinese sage, law · **What happens:** have, understand · **To what, where:** law

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (great Chinese sage, law), 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:pg75089:8:1
# text = The great Chinese sage, Confucius, had a son-in-law, Kung Yeh Chang, who understood better than any one before or since his day the habits of birds.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	sage	sage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	Confucius	Confucius	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
8	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
10	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	Kung	Kung	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	Yeh	Yeh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	appos	_	_
18	Chang	Chang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
21	understood	understand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
22	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	21	advmod	_	_
23	than	than	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	25	det	_	_
25	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	before	before	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
27	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	since	since	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	habits	habit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the great Chinese sage | a law  son |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent law=Patient |
| 2 | **understand** | past | a law  son |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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