---
title: Little did either of us dream how short the earthly joy was to be, o… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Little did either of us dream how short the earthly joy was to be, or how soon the Heavenly reward was to begin. Who acts: Little, either, Heavenly reward. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Literary Glory, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Literary Glory, sentence 30

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Little did either of us dream how short the earthly joy was to be, or how soon the Heavenly reward was to begin.

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**Who acts:** Little, either, Heavenly reward · **What happens:** do, dream, begin

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Literary Glory. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Little, either, Heavenly reward), 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:pg75089:13:30
# text = Little did either of us dream how short the earthly joy was to be, or how soon the Heavenly reward was to begin.
1	Little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	either	either	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nmod	_	_
6	dream	dream	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
7	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
8	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	earthly	earthly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	joy	joy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
17	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	18	advmod	_	_
18	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	24	advmod	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	Heavenly	heavenly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	reward	reward	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	begin	begin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | Little |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **dream** | present | either of us |  |  |  |  | short *property* | vn cognize-85 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **begin** | past | the Heavenly reward |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

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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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