---
title: Thus, while we have not known the family or state skeletons and the… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Thus, while we have not known the family or state skeletons and the gossip of the women and servants, we are a help to man. Who acts: we, women. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/8/38/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Gleanings from Chinese folklore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/) / [The Wild Goose and the Sparrow](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/8/) / 38

# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Thus, while we have not known the family or state skeletons and the gossip of the women and servants, we are a help to man.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** we, women · **What happens:** not know, be, gossip · **To what, where:** family, help

<!-- .vabout -->
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, women), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75089:8:38
# text = Thus, while we have not known the family or state skeletons and the gossip of the women and servants, we are a help to man.
1	Thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	skeletons	skeleton	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	gossip	gossip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
23	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	TO	_	27	case	_	_
27	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **know** | present · perfect | we | the family or state skeletons and the gossip of the women and servants |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer family=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is a** | present | we | a help |  |  |  | to man | tree rules |
| 3 | **gossip** |  | the women and servants |  |  |  |  |  | nom gossip «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/8/37/)
- next →: [sentence 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/8/39/)
- ↑ back to [The Wild Goose and the Sparrow](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/8/)