---
title: “We consider,” said the wild goose, “that the highest law of virtue… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: “We consider,” said the wild goose, “that the highest law of virtue and good is to give others an equal chance with ourselves, or even to give them the first choice. Who acts: We, wild goose, highest law. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, The Wild Goose and the
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow, sentence 30

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“We consider,” said the wild goose, “that the highest law of virtue and good is to give others an equal chance with ourselves, or even to give them the first choice.

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**Who acts:** We, wild goose, highest law · **What happens:** consider, say, be, give · **To what, where:** others, first choice · **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 (We, wild goose, highest 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:pg75089:8:30
# text = “We consider,” said the wild goose, “that the highest law of virtue and good is to give others an equal chance with ourselves, or even to give them the first choice.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	consider	consider	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	goose	goose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
11	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	highest	high	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	15	amod	_	_
15	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	virtue	virtue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	_
20	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
23	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	iobj	_	_
24	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	equal	equal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	ourselves	ourselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
31	even	even	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
34	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	iobj	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	37	amod	_	_
37	choice	choice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **consider** *in a quote* | present | We |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-1-1 «NP V whether/if S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the wild goose |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the highest law of virtue |  | others |  |  | with ourselves; a equal chance *obj*; give *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **give** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the highest law of virtue *not said here* | the first choice | others *= other* |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient choice=Theme |

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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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