---
title: She was his one thought, but with all his efforts it was but a poor… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: She was his one thought, but with all his efforts it was but a poor living that he could give her, and it was a great sorrow to him. Who acts: widow, many, thought. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, How the Dog and Cat Came to Be Enemies, with its dependency tr
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, How the Dog and Cat Came to Be Enemies, sentence 5

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She was his one thought, but with all his efforts it was but a poor living that he could give her, and it was a great sorrow to him.

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**Who acts:** widow, many, thought · **What happens:** be, give · **To what, where:** one thought, poor living, widow, great sorrow, many

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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 (widow, many, thought), 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:pg75089:14:5
# text = She was his one thought, but with all his efforts it was but a poor living that he could give her, and it was a great sorrow to him.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	thought	thought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	11	det:predet	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	efforts	effort	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	living	living	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl	_	_
22	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	sorrow	sorrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | widow | many's one thought |  |  |  | with many's efforts but a poor living; many *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 2 | **give** | could | many | a poor living *not said here* | widow |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | past | thought | a great sorrow | many |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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