--- title: Early in the morning the caravan started, and when but a short dista… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics description: Early in the morning the caravan started, and when but a short distance from the city they were overtaken by Yen Sung and his servants, who inquired how much silver was being taken, also made the demand to see it. Who acts: caravan, Yen Sung. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/17/15/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Gleanings from Chinese folklore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/) / [A Story of Old China, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/17/) / 15 # Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 15 Early in the morning the caravan started, and when but a short distance from the city they were overtaken by Yen Sung and his servants, who inquired how much silver was being taken, also made the demand to see it. **Who acts:** caravan, Yen Sung · **What happens:** start, overtake, inquire, take, make, see · **To what, where:** logs, much silver, short distance, demand This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (caravan, Yen Sung), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg75089:17:15 # text = Early in the morning the caravan started, and when but a short distance from the city they were overtaken by Yen Sung and his servants, who inquired how much silver was being taken, also made the demand to see it. 1 Early early ADV RB Degree=Pos 7 advmod _ _ 2 in in ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 morning morning NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 caravan caravan NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ _ 7 started start VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 10 when when SCONJ WRB _ 35 mark _ _ 11 but but CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 12 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 13 short short ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 amod _ _ 14 distance distance NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nsubj:pass _ _ 15 from from ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 city city NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nmod _ _ 18 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 19 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 aux:pass _ _ 20 overtaken overtake VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 17 acl:relcl _ _ 21 by by ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 Yen Yen PROPN NNP Number=Sing 23 compound _ _ 23 Sung Sung PROPN NNP Number=Sing 20 obl _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 25 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 nmod:poss _ _ 26 servants servant NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 28 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 29 nsubj _ _ 29 inquired inquire VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 acl:relcl _ _ 30 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 31 advmod _ _ 31 much much ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 amod _ _ 32 silver silver NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obj _ _ 33 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 aux:pass _ _ 34 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 35 aux:pass _ _ 35 taken take VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 38 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 37 also also ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 38 made make VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 demand demand NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obj _ _ 41 to to PART TO _ 42 mark _ _ 42 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 advcl _ _ 43 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **start** | past | the caravan | | | | morning | early *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | | 2 | **overtake** | past · passive | Yen Sung and caravan's servants | logs *= log* | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **inquire** *speech: other* | past | Yen Sung and caravan's servants | much silver | | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent silver=Recipient | | 4 | **take** | past · passive | | a short distance from the city | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 5 | **make** | past | the caravan *not said here* | the demand | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset demand=Product | | 6 | **see** | to-infinitive | the caravan *not said here* | demand | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/17/14/) - next →: [sentence 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/17/16/) - ↑ back to [A Story of Old China, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/17/)