---
title: So much time and study did he give to them that tradition says he un… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: So much time and study did he give to them that tradition says he understood all bird language and many stories are told of him in this connection. Who acts: much time, tradition, sage. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow, with its 
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow, sentence 2

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So much time and study did he give to them that tradition says he understood all bird language and many stories are told of him in this connection.

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**Who acts:** much time, tradition, sage · **What happens:** give, say, understand, tell · **To what, where:** birds, bird language, many stories, connection · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (much time, tradition, sage), 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:pg75089:8:2
# text = So much time and study did he give to them that tradition says he understood all bird language and many stories are told of him in this connection.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	study	study	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
6	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	tradition	tradition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	understood	understand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	ccomp	_	_
16	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	18	det	_	_
17	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	conj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obl	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	28	det	_	_
28	connection	connection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past · do-support | much time and study |  | birds *= bird* |  |  | sage *nsubj* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to they=Recipient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | tradition |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **understand** | past | sage | all bird language |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer language=Stimulus |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | many stories |  | this connection |  | of sage | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |

<!-- .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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