---
title: Alas! the death of a member of our station called me to Peking by th… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Alas! the death of a member of our station called me to Peking by the shortest road, and the next month the Boxer storm burst upon us. Who acts: death, Boxer storm, member. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Literary Glory, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Literary Glory, sentence 57

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Alas! the death of a member of our station called me to Peking by the shortest road, and the next month the Boxer storm burst upon us.

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**Who acts:** death, Boxer storm, member · **What happens:** call, burst, die · **To what, where:** me, Peking · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (death, Boxer storm, member), 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:pg75089:13:57
# text = Alas! the death of a member of our station called me to Peking by the shortest road, and the next month the Boxer storm burst upon us.
1	Alas	alas	INTJ	UH	_	11	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	member	member	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	station	station	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	Peking	Peking	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	shortest	short	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	18	amod	_	_
18	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	month	month	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl:unmarked	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	Boxer	Boxer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	burst	burst	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
28	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | past | the death of a member of our station | me | Peking |  |  | by the shortest road | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Topic to peking=Recipient |
| 2 | **burst** | past | the Boxer storm |  |  |  | month | upon us | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon we=Location |
| 3 | **die** |  | a member of our station |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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