---
title: Nien Chi was very angry, his eyes pained him furiously, and as soon… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Nien Chi was very angry, his eyes pained him furiously, and as soon as he could open them with any comfort he called to his friend: Who acts: Nien, eyes. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 36

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Nien Chi was very angry, his eyes pained him furiously, and as soon as he could open them with any comfort he called to his friend:

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**Who acts:** Nien, eyes · **What happens:** be, pain, open, call · **To what, where:** Nien, eyes, comfort, friend · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Nien, eyes), 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:pg75089:17:36
# text = Nien Chi was very angry, his eyes pained him furiously, and as soon as he could open them with any comfort he called to his friend:
1	Nien	Nien	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	Chi	Chi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	pained	pain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	furiously	furiously	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
14	as	as	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	19	advmod	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	open	open	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
20	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	23	det	_	_
23	comfort	comfort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Nien |  |  |  |  | angry *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **pain** | past | Nien's eyes | Nien |  |  |  | furiously *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer |
| 3 | **open** | could | Nien | eyes *= eye* |  |  |  | with any comfort; soon *property* | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent they=Patient with comfort=Instrument |
| 4 | **call** | past | Nien | any comfort *not said here* | Nien's friend |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent comfort=Topic to friend=Recipient |

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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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