---
title: Of the thousand and one stories the old women of China love to tell… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Of the thousand and one stories the old women of China love to tell their children and grandchildren, none is so great a favourite as the one, “How the dog and cat came to be enemies for all time.” Who acts: old women, none, dog. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russel
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, How the Dog and Cat Came to Be Enemies, sentence 1

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Of the thousand and one stories the old women of China love to tell their children and grandchildren, none is so great a favourite as the one, “How the dog and cat came to be enemies for all time.”

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**Who acts:** old women, none, dog · **What happens:** love, tell, be, come · **To what, where:** children, enemies · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, How the Dog and Cat Came to Be Enemies. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old women, none, dog), 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:pg75089:14:1
# text = Of the thousand and one stories the old women of China love to tell their children and grandchildren, none is so great a favourite as the one, “How the dog and cat came to be enemies for all time.”
1	Of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	conj	_	_
6	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	love	love	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	grandchildren	grandchild	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	23	nsubj	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	conj	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	favourite	favourite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	_
26	as	as	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
30	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	36	advmod	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	conj	_	_
36	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
38	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	cop	_	_
39	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	xcomp	_	_
40	for	for	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	42	det	_	_
42	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **love** | present | the old women of China |  |  |  |  | of thousand stories | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the old women of China *not said here* |  | women's children and grandchildren |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent child=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** | present | none |  |  |  |  | as the one; great *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | none *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **come** *in a quote* | past | the dog and cat |  |  |  | time |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **is a** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the dog and cat *not said here* | enemies |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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