---
title: After a time she spied a rathole, and going over to it she waited pa… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: After a time she spied a rathole, and going over to it she waited patiently till a big mouse came out; then she sprang upon it and held it fast. Who acts: cat, big mouse. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, How the Dog and Cat Came to Be Enemies, with its depende
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, How the Dog and Cat Came to Be Enemies, sentence 59

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After a time she spied a rathole, and going over to it she waited patiently till a big mouse came out; then she sprang upon it and held it fast.

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**Who acts:** cat, big mouse · **What happens:** spy, go over, wait, come out, spring, hold · **To what, where:** rathole, mouse

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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 (cat, big mouse), 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:pg75089:14:59
# text = After a time she spied a rathole, and going over to it she waited patiently till a big mouse came out; then she sprang upon it and held it fast.
1	After	after	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	spied	spy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	rathole	rathole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
10	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
11	over	over	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	_
14	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	waited	wait	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
16	patiently	patiently	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
22	out	out	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
24	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	26	advmod	_	_
25	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
27	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spy** | past | cat | a rathole |  |  | time |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer rathole=Stimulus |
| 2 | **go over** | gerund | cat *not said here* |  | rathole |  |  | over *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **wait** | past | cat |  |  |  |  | patiently *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **come out** | past | a big mouse |  |  |  |  | out *property* | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **spring** | past | cat |  |  |  | then | upon mouse | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon it=Trajectory |
| 6 | **hold** | past | cat *not said here* | mouse |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

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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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