---
title: He was a student by nature, and on the death of his father and the c… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: He was a student by nature, and on the death of his father and the confiscation of his property, spent all of his time at the “Hall of Classics,” studying for promotion. Who acts: son, student, father. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, par
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/17/21/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / 21

# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was a student by nature, and on the death of his father and the confiscation of his property, spent all of his time at the “Hall of Classics,” studying for promotion.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** son, student, father · **What happens:** be, spend, study, die, confiscate · **To what, where:** student, all, death, property

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (son, student, father), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75089:17:21
# text = He was a student by nature, and on the death of his father and the confiscation of his property, spent all of his time at the “Hall of Classics,” studying for promotion.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	student	student	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	confiscation	confiscation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
22	spent	spend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
23	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	22	obj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
27	at	at	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	Hall	Hall	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	Classics	classic	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	_
35	studying	study	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
36	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	promotion	promotion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | son | a student |  |  |  | by nature | tree rules |
| 2 | **spend** | past | a student *not said here* | all of son's time |  |  |  | on the death of son's father and the confiscation of son's property *goal*; at the Hall of Classics | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent all=Asset on death=Goal |
| 3 | **study** | gerund | a student *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for promotion | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent for promotion=Attribute |
| 4 | **die** |  | son's father and the confiscation of son's property |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: of=agent |
| 5 | **confiscate** |  |  | son's property |  |  |  |  | nom confiscation «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/17/20/)
- next →: [sentence 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/17/22/)
- ↑ back to [A Story of Old China, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/17/)