---
title: In the long, long ago there lived in the country a poor widow who ha… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: In the long, long ago there lived in the country a poor widow who had only one son; but he was very kind and good to her, working early and late to support her. Who acts: poor widow, many. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, How the Dog and Cat Came to Be Enemies
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, How the Dog and Cat Came to Be Enemies, sentence 4

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In the long, long ago there lived in the country a poor widow who had only one son; but he was very kind and good to her, working early and late to support her.

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**Who acts:** poor widow, many · **What happens:** live, have, be, work, support · **To what, where:** long, one son, widow

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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 (poor widow, many), 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:pg75089:14:4
# text = In the long, long ago there lived in the country a poor widow who had only one son; but he was very kind and good to her, working early and late to support her.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
6	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
8	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	widow	widow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	_
15	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	only	only	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	nummod	_	_
19	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	very	very	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	conj	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
31	working	work	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	conj	_	_
32	early	early	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	31	advmod	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	late	late	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	32	conj	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	support	support	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	advcl	_	_
37	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | past |  |  |  | the long; there |  | in the country | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in long=Location |
| 2 | **have** | past | a poor widow | one son |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | past | many |  | widow |  |  | kind *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | many *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **work** | gerund | many *not said here* |  |  |  |  | early *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **support** | to-infinitive | many *not said here* | widow |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus |

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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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