---
title: The past could not chain her, the present could not bind her. — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: The past could not chain her, the present could not bind her. Who acts: present. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Opening, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Opening, sentence 30

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The past could not chain her, the present could not bind her.

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**Who acts:** present · **What happens:** not bind · **To what, where:** past, chain

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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 (present), 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:pg75089:1:30
# text = The past could not chain her, the present could not bind her.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	past	past	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	chain	chain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	bind	bind	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
13	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **bind** | could | the present | past |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |

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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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