---
title: One who watched her taking a little dead goldfish out of the water s… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: One who watched her taking a little dead goldfish out of the water said, “Don’t keep goldfish any more, it hurts you so when they die.” Who acts: One, Miss, goldfish, flowers. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Opening, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Opening, sentence 21

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One who watched her taking a little dead goldfish out of the water said, “Don’t keep goldfish any more, it hurts you so when they die.”

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**Who acts:** One, Miss, goldfish, flowers · **What happens:** watch, take, say, not keep, hurt, die · **To what, where:** Miss, dead goldfish, goldfish, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (One, Miss, goldfish, flowers), 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:pg75089:1:21
# text = One who watched her taking a little dead goldfish out of the water said, “Don’t keep goldfish any more, it hurts you so when they die.”
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nsubj	_	_
2	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
3	watched	watch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	taking	take	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
10	out	out	ADP	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
14	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	Do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	n’t	n't	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
20	goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
21	any	any	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	hurts	hurt	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
26	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	so	so	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
28	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	30	advmod	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	die	die	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	25	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **watch** | past | One | Miss |  |  |  | who *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | gerund | Miss *not said here* |  | a dead goldfish |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument goldfish=Destination |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  | of the water | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **not** **keep** *in a quote* | infinitive · do-support | Miss *not said here* | goldfish |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent goldfish=Theme |
| 5 | **hurt** *in a quote* | present | goldfish | you |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer you=Patient |
| 6 | **die** *in a quote* | present | flowers *= flower* |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

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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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