---
title: If I hold out my head and tell him to cut it off he has not the stre… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: If I hold out my head and tell him to cut it off he has not the strength to do it, even though I stand still and do not resist him. Who acts: I, prince. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Chinese Hero, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Chinese Hero, sentence 26

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If I hold out my head and tell him to cut it off he has not the strength to do it, even though I stand still and do not resist him.

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**Who acts:** I, prince · **What happens:** hold out, tell, cut off, have, do, stand · **To what, where:** head, prince, strength · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Chinese Hero. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, prince), 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:pg75089:9:26
# text = If I hold out my head and tell him to cut it off he has not the strength to do it, even though I stand still and do not resist him.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	hold	hold	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	out	out	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	iobj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	off	off	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	acl	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	even	even	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
24	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	stand	stand	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
27	still	still	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
29	do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	resist	resist	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	conj	_	_
32	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold out** | present | I | my head |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive | I *not said here* |  | prince |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **cut off** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | head |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector it=Eventuality |
| 4 | **have** | present | prince | the strength |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent strength=Patient |
| 5 | **do** | to-infinitive | prince *not said here* | strength |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 6 | **stand** | present | I |  |  |  | still |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **not** **resist** | infinitive · do-support | I *not said here* | prince |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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