---
title: It was in the autumn of 1890 that I sat one evening looking into the… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: It was in the autumn of 1890 that I sat one evening looking into the face of a young woman who was passing through Tung-chow on her way to her new field of work in Peking. Who acts: FOREWORD, autumn, young woman. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Opening, with 
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Opening, sentence 11

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It was in the autumn of 1890 that I sat one evening looking into the face of a young woman who was passing through Tung-chow on her way to her new field of work in Peking.

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**Who acts:** FOREWORD, autumn, young woman · **What happens:** be, sit, look, pass · **To what, where:** Tung chow

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (FOREWORD, autumn, young woman), 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:pg75089:1:11
# text = It was in the autumn of 1890 that I sat one evening looking into the face of a young woman who was passing through Tung-chow on her way to her new field of work in Peking.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	autumn	autumn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	1890	1890	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	5	nmod	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
11	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl:unmarked	_	_
13	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
14	into	into	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
21	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	passing	pass	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	acl:relcl	_	_
24	through	through	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	Tung	Tung	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	chow	chow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
33	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	Peking	Peking	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | FOREWORD |  |  |  |  | in the autumn; of 1890 | tree rules |
| 2 | **sit** | past | the autumn |  |  |  | evening | I *nsubj* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **look** | gerund | the autumn *not said here* |  |  |  |  | into the face of a young woman | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent into face=Theme |
| 4 | **pass** | past · progressive | a young woman |  |  | Tung chow |  | on woman's way to woman's new field of work in Peking | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme through chow=Location |

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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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