---
title: The teachers urged the Prince to give the young man a trial and at l… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: The teachers urged the Prince to give the young man a trial and at last he said, “Here is my spear—let him hold it up straight for half a day. Who acts: teachers, man. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Chinese Hero, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Chinese Hero, sentence 31

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The teachers urged the Prince to give the young man a trial and at last he said, “Here is my spear—let him hold it up straight for half a day.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** teachers, man · **What happens:** urge, give, say, be, let, hold up · **To what, where:** Prince, trial, young man, last, man · **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 (teachers, man), 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:pg75089:9:31
# text = The teachers urged the Prince to give the young man a trial and at last he said, “Here is my spear—let him hold it up straight for half a day.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	teachers	teacher	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	urged	urge	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	iobj	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	trial	trial	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	Here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	17	ccomp	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
22	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	up	up	ADP	RP	_	27	compound:prt	_	_
30	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
31	for	for	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	half	half	DET	PDT	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac|PronType=Ind	34	det:predet	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **urge** | past | the teachers | the Prince |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent prince=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **give** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the teachers *not said here* | a trial | the young man |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent man=Recipient trial=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | man |  |  | last |  | my spear *ccomp* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | here *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **hold up** *in a quote* | infinitive | man *not said here* | trial |  |  | day |  | vn support-15.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot it=Theme |

<!-- .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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